All right, beloved, Matthew chapter 12, let's look at verse 33. Matthew's gospel chapter 12, verse 33. I hope and pray you'll get something out of this message tonight. The message is entitled Tree ID, or some of you are young enough to remember a cartoon, George of the Jungle. And it said, watch out for that tree, because he's always hitting them trees when he sails through the jungle. If I'm not mistaken, my dad took it, I know I took it back in the FFA, tree ID. And in tree ID, what we were taught, we were taught how to identify trees by generally three things. If it was a fruit bearing tree, we could identify the tree by the fruit, or we could identify the tree by the bark, No, we're not looking for dogs, but by the bark, and also we could identify the tree by its leaves, or if it didn't have leaves, by the pine needles or whatnot. I have since lost some of that ability, but it is interesting to be able to take somebody out and say, that's a poplar, that's a maple, that's a whatever. I remember when I was in first grade, one of my most fond memories of me and my daddy going down to the woods collecting leaves and him teaching me what type of tree that that leaf come off of. Trees are very important, beloved, because trees help produce the oxygen that we breathe. And a lot of people have taken it upon themselves during Arbor Day and during Earth Day and Earth Week and all that to plant trees. And, you know, it is a very sad place when you go somewhere and you don't see any trees. That's one thing that strikes me about Alabama. I know Alabama has trees in it, but sometimes on I-65, you go down that flat, hot pancake, you don't see no tree nowhere. And you don't see no mountain, no nothing. And it makes me glad that God planted me in the foothills of North Carolina. So tree ID. Now, guys, I'm going to give you a little story here while you're finding Matthew 1233. God inspired this message out of a message that Brother Mickey McGuire, a deacon down at Ridge Memorial, that he preached basically about trusting God. Now, y'all remember Hurricane Katrina. Well, they remember Hurricane Katrina because it hit them bad down there. Those pictures, I had Heather take some of the pictures. I'm going to try to get those developed and printed and show y'all the destruction that happened at Brother Paul's church. And guys, they rebuilt down there, so praise God. The devil tried to shut them down, but God's still on the throne. And anyway, Brother Mickey, he talked about how the trees that were in his yard, I think he had about 30 or 40 trees, and a lot of those were just knocked down. They were just, it was destruction everywhere. But some trees were left standing, and one tree was very, very, very tall, and the way the building and everything was, he would have to have somebody come in and pull that tree down, And the man told him, he said, well, Mr. McGuire, it'll take about $3,000 to $4,000 to pull that, chomp that tree down. And that's been several years ago. And so here recently, you know, they were trying to look about hurricane season and all that. And he, him and his wife, Pat, were talking about what should we do about that tree. And they had a big old branch jutting out of it. And he said, well, I'm going to have to do something to pull that tree down myself because there was only one place where that tree could go, one place, God. And so he's worrying and he's concerning, he's adding up the figures, trying to figure out how in the world he's going to get the money to get this tree down. And he even had thought about getting the fishing line and throwing it over the branch, pulling it down, tying a rope to it, and then a bigger rope to that one and try to pull that thing and break the top of it off in the direction he wanted it to go. But one night, they had revival. And one of the members of the Sawdell Baptist Seminary, Dalton Isbell, he was there preaching revival for him. And that night they had a big storm come through. I mean, it was a big storm. Well, when Brother McGuire got home, he found that tree had fallen. And it fell in the only place it could fall. It didn't fall on his fence and it didn't fall on his building, but it fell in the only place it could fall and not harm anything. And he says, as he looked at that tree, he felt the still presence of God speaking to his heart. And he said, you know what, son? You worried and worried and worried and worried about how you'd get that tree down. You let me deal with the tree. I got it done for you. It didn't cost you a penny. So you think about that, guys. Sometimes we look at these obstacles. We look at the Goliath like the children of Israel did. And they were looking at that big old tall giant And what could they do about it? Nobody could do nothing about it. But they forgot one thing. Very, very important. They forgot what God could do about it. God could handle Goliath. And that's why David said, the battle is the Lord. It ain't his battle. It ain't what David's going to do. It's what God's going to do. So he sprung out of that illustration, as he did. He talked about an oak tree. And as you talk about that oak tree, you're going to hear about that oak tree tonight. God spoke to my heart, and He says, I want you to go back and get your tree ID. And I said, OK, why, Lord? And He said, because I'm going to let you preach a message on tree ID or watch out for that tree to your flock on Wednesday night when you get back. So I studied it, and this is what we got. So Matthew 12, verse 33, hopefully you have your place there by now. If you do, please say amen. If you're able to stand, let's stand together in reverence to God's Word. If you can't stand, stand inside of your heart, please. And let's see what does Jesus say. He says, read with me out of your sword, either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit. Let us pray. Father, if we are trees planted beside the still waters, as is stated in Psalm 1 and in that old hymn, Father, Lord, we pray that our fruit will show Jesus. Lord God, I ask tonight you'll hide me behind the cross and put your words in my mouth that you'd have me to preach tonight, Lord, and stir our hearts and speak to our hearts. Lord, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Y'all may be seated. Tonight, I want to share with you a few trees tonight with God being my helper and him doing the work and me just being the vessel that he puts his message in. I want to share with you seven trees that you need to ID. In other words, you need to identify these trees in your spiritual life. And hopefully you'll watch out for some of these trees, but other of these trees you'll run to. Once you see that tree, hopefully you'll run to that tree. I'll tell you the first tree that I ever run to spiritually. And I believe that you have run to this tree as well. And we know in our hearts that there are many out there tonight that need to run to that tree. That's found over in 1 Peter 2, verse 24, where Peter says, "...who his own self bare our sin, and his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live in the righteousness by whose stripes you were healed." Beloved, the first tree I want you to ID tonight is the tree of salvation. The tree of salvation. Peter there again says that Jesus His own self. It wasn't a mirage. It wasn't a vision. It wasn't a fake Jesus. It wasn't somebody else taking His place. It was Jesus, His own self, in His own body, on the tree. On the tree. The tree. The what? The tree of Calvary. The tree called the cross. For Jesus, our Savior, was nailed to an old rugged cross, and He hung there between heaven and earth, and He shed His own precious blood for the remission of our sins. Beloved, that is the tree of salvation. There is no other tree of salvation. That's the only one. Now, people say, well, what was the tree that was used for the cross? Tradition has it that it was the dogwood tree, but we don't know really what it was. That makes a beautiful story, the way the beautiful dogwood flowers and the way it looks. There's a nice story behind that, but again, I don't know personally. But I do know, who knows? Jesus knows. And I know one day when I get home, He'll be able to ID that tree for me, and He'll be able to tell you and me what the tree was used for the wood of the cross on Calvary. But you know what? It really doesn't matter to me because I know that there was a tree that called the cross. And I do know that Jesus was nailed to the cross. And I do know that He died and that He rose again the third day. And that's how, beloved, He secured for you and I the payment of our sin. So one of the trees we need to look for, and I say we have already looked for, is the tree of salvation. But there's a lot of folks out there, they need that tree. They need that tree tonight just like we need air to breathe. So that's the first tree that I want you to understand. Now, in John 1, John chapter 1, verse 48, this verse declares, Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Now, what is this fig tree tonight? The fig tree was a real fig tree. I mean, put it out. That's what the tree was. Tonight, what I want you to take away from this tree is this was a tree of rest. It was a tree of prayer. It was a tree of study. The phrase under the fig tree was a Jewish euphemism. In other words, it was a figure of speech a lot of times. But Jesus actually said that he saw him under the fig tree. So if Jesus said that, that's a literal statement that Nathaniel was literally sitting under a literal fig tree. So don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to spiritualize or allegorize this. But in the first century A.D., there was a meaning that was attached to that. And if somebody said he's sitting out under the fig tree, he might mean that literally, but also he may mean that spiritually. Because by that time in Jewish culture, that phrase meant that a Jew was praying, he was studying, he was meditating on the Old Testament, what we would call the Old Testament, what they would call the Torah. You know, if you think about it, when Nathanael was told by Philip that they had learned who the Messiah was, Nathanael had his thoughts on the things of Old Testament prophecy. I mean, how did Philip tell Nathanael this? He said, we have found the Messiah of whom it was spoken of in the Scriptures. Now that speaks to me because why would Philip just out of the blue mention that to Nathanael? Well, possibly because Nathanael was sitting there under that fig tree and he was thinking about the Old Testament. He was praying. He was meditating. You know, a lot of Jews were connected to nature. And you and I both know that one of the best places you and I can go for quiet time to rest to pray, even to read our Bible, is to just go outside somewhere in a quiet spot and just look at what God has made with His own hands. And so when you look at this tree, this fig tree, Nathaniel was literally there, but he was doing something else there. He was praying, he was meditating. I mean, Jesus says, I saw thee under the fig tree. I mean, it would make sense to me that here a Philip, I mean, Nathanael is praying to God, and as he's praying to God, Jesus is able to look in his mind's eye, because he's omniscient, he knows everything, and he's omnipotent, he's all-powerful, and he's omnipresent, he's everywhere at once. Jesus looks at Nathanael sitting under that tree, and he knows him, and he hears him. He hears his prayer. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us he was reading his Old Testament. It doesn't tell us that he was praying. It doesn't tell us he was meditating. But the culture says that's more than likely what a Jew would be doing if he was sitting under a fig tree. And so, beloved, what I want to challenge you to do tonight is to hunt for that fig tree in your life. Hunt for that tree of rest. Hunt for that fruit. that tree of prayer. Hunt for that tree of Bible reading. Hunt for that tree of Bible study. Hunt for that tree of meditating on what God has said and who and what God is. In other words, beloved, what I'm trying to get you to understand tonight is that you and I need to take time out of our life, out of our schedule, put some time aside to just give it to God and say, Lord, here I am. I don't need nothing right now. All I need is just you to speak to my heart and just Talk to me, Lord. We need that in our lives, beloved. I have to have that in my life. I mean, if I don't devote time to Bible reading and prayer and study, gosh, y'all ain't going to get fed. Or else I'm going to go here and there or yonder to try to instill somebody else's sermon. And I don't believe in that. Now, it may happen that I'm inspired just like I was inspired by hearing another brother preach, but I don't want to copy his sermon to give it to y'all. I want something fresh from the mouth of the Lord to give to y'all. I don't want something warmed over hot. I want something that is fresh. That's like you do. If you go somewhere to eat, you want that food to be fresh. You're going to pay for that food, you want it to be fresh. I mean, if you buy a loaf of bread at Summers, You don't want that bread to be 25 and say so, that's moldy by then. You want that bread to be fresh. Same thing with meat. You're going to go buy some meat. You're going to try to touch it and feel it, see the date, see what color it is, the marbleization. You're going to look at that and say, is that fresh or is it about to go stale? How does that meat look? You know, we want some fresh meat. I want some fresh word from heaven, guys. Now, don't get me wrong. Some sermons, well, that's for the agent. You go inside the Bible, you read about Stephen, Deacon Stephen, his sermon he preached, and Acts chapter 7, that'll still preach, and it does. You go over and further in the book of Acts, you hear what Paul the Apostle preached to the Greeks on Mars Hill. It still preaches, guys. Everything that Jesus preached, the greatest preacher of all, what he preached, it still preaches, guys. And some of the old great preachers of the past, you hear some of their sermons on the radio or you read it in book format or something like that. God has anointed some of these messages and they still speak to us even hundreds of years down the road. As long as it's got the Word of God, and Jesus, and the anointing of the Holy Ghost, God, it'll still speak to hearts, it'll still move hearts. But it could not have happened unless the man of God had given God of his time, and he found him a sanctuary to sit under, and pray to his Father, and study the Word of God, and to hear from on high. So you and I need to make sure we have ID'd that fig tree, that tree of prayer, that tree of study, that tree of rest in our lives, somewhere, someway, somehow. There's another tree I think we need to ID tonight. That's the mulberry tree, the tree of patience, if you will. Now 2 Samuel 20, I mean 2 Samuel 5 rather, verses 23 through 25, listen to what the Lord said here. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up, but fetch a compass behind them. That means go around them. And come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And let it be, now listen to what he says, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself, for then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gezer." Geba to Gezer, guys, that's 18 miles. That means David had an army and he was ready to fight the Philistines. Now the Philistines symbolically represent the flesh. He was ready to fight against the Philistines, just like you and I should be ready to fight against the flesh. But God told him, don't just go out and hit them head on. Do as I tell you. He said, go around them and then wait by the mulberry trees. And he said, you wait by them mulberry trees until you hear the sounds of a going in the top. He said, what in the world is a going? Well, it's the stirring. If you sit under some trees, like say you're in the woods, and there's a breeze blowing, you can hear the wind moving and blowing in the tops of them trees. If you ain't never heard that, you need to get out into the woods. But you can hear that. You can hear the wind blowing through the trees. And he said, that's what you need to listen for. You need to listen for that wind to go through them mulberry trees. When you hear that, that is your sign. That is your signal to go out and join battle and hit them and hit them hard. And when David did that, guys, he drove them 18 miles. If he had hit them when he wanted to, they probably wouldn't have licked him. They probably would have licked him. So the thing that we need to remember too, beloved, is we need to remember patience. Does not Isaiah tell us, those that wait upon the Lord shall renew themselves with strength? Guys, sometimes we see something, we want to go after it, but guys, we've got to remember not to get ahead of God. God has established a time. God has established a way to go and a turn to go. And we just don't need to get out in front of God, get ahead of God. We need to wait on him, wait upon the Lord. The Bible says so many times. So David asked what to do, and then he waited until God gave him a clear command what to do. Sometimes, guys, that's what we're missing. We miss out on this idea of asking God, Lord, this is what I want to do, but what do you want me to do? We always need to remember that. James told us, he said that we shouldn't say, well, we'll go into the city and stay there a year and buy and sell and get gain. He said, but if the Lord wills, if it's God's will, we've got to be patient upon the Lord. We can't hurry God's hand. God will move when he so chooses. But when he tells us to move, that's when we need to move or do whatever he tells us to do. So we need to find, we need to find that tree of patience. We need to find that same mulberry tree and wait for that wind to go through the top of it. Because you know what? The wind represents the Holy Ghost. When the Holy Ghost moves, that's when we need to move. Number four. There's another tree we need to find. There's another tree we need to ID. So far we've looked at the tree of salvation. The cross of Jesus Christ. If you've never gotten saved, if you've never put your faith and your trust in Jesus Christ, beloved, right now you are standing in mortal, physical and spiritual danger. There is nothing but a heartbeat, nothing but a breath of air separating you from hell itself. While there is a cross underneath your feet, that is, who knows how deep, how thick, Several hundred, I mean not several hundred, but who knows how hundreds of miles it may be thick. But that isn't enough to keep you from the moment you die, from your soul dropping into the pit of hell. The Bible tells us that the rich man died and was buried, and in hell he lived up to a thousand torments. So beloved, remember tonight, if you're not safe, you need to identify that tree of salvation immediately. If you are saved, you need to identify that tree of study, that tree of prayer, that tree of rest, where we go and sit and contemplate and just remember God. You need to identify the tree of patience, the weight upon the Lord to renew your strength. Then there's another tree, guys, we need to look for. Number four, that fourth tree we need to ID tonight is the tree of closeness. You say, what is that? Well, I can identify with this because I'm so short. I'm like Zacchaeus in this way. In Luke 19, 2 through 4, it says, And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. Now, I ain't like Zacchaeus there, but I'm rich with the things of God. Now, notice what he says. He says, And he sought to see Jesus. He sought to see Jesus. Out of all the things his money could buy, he could not buy Jesus. He wanted to see Jesus. He wanted to know who this man was. What did he look like? He said, I've got all the money I could want, but there's something I ain't got, and that's something I want to know more about. I want to know more about Jesus. I want to see Him. That Bible says he sought to see Jesus. You know, it must have been disheartening for a man who had riches, who could buy anybody or anything, or maybe buy an election, or buy this official, or buy that person, or whatever it might have been. But he could not buy Jesus. He couldn't even get there to where he could see Him. He couldn't even get to the front. He said, but I'm going to see Him. And so what did he do? Notice here, the Bible tells us what he did. And he sought to see Jesus, who He was. and could not for the press because he was little of stature." Yep, I know Zacchaeus. I'm right there with you, brother. He was little of stature. That means he was short. I don't know how short he was, but I know one day I'm going to meet him. Now, I won't meet him like he was then, but I'll ask him, I'll say, Hey, Zacchaeus, how little were you back in them days? If he can't remember, maybe the Lord knows. He might have been four or five. I don't know. But we'll find out one of these days. So what happened? Verse 4, it says, And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for he was to pass that way. You all remember that little children's song, Zacchaeus climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. He wanted to see the Lord. Now the Bible tells us what happened. I won't read you all the verses, but Jesus stopped right in that sycamore tree and looked up at him and saw him and said, Come on down, Zacchaeus. I'm going to your house tonight. Ain't that something? Because Zacchaeus got saved. He got his heart and his life right with the Lord. Now, that's a tree, guys. I don't know about y'all, but beside that tree of salvation, I'd better find that tree. I'd better find that tree as quick as I can because I want to be close to Jesus. I want to see Jesus. I want to see who He was, who He is, who He will be. And, guys, one of the best places I can do that is when I find that that fig tree, that tree of rest, that tree of prayer, that tree of study. When I find that tree, I find that I'm right next door to this sycamore tree. I'm right next door to that tree of closeness. And I get right over inside it. I just climb over in that other tree. Just like a monkey. That monkey can swing over to another tree. Well, I'll be like that monkey. I'll just move on over to that tree of closeness. I was under, notice, my think tree, that tree of rest, that tree of prayer, that tree of study. But I climbed up in that tree and I hopped over to that beautiful, beautiful tree of closeness. I reckon you might even say I'm in the treehouse now. Jesus is there in the treehouse. He's in the Father's house. When we come together in that tree of closeness, we have that visitation. Jesus told Zacchaeus, I'm coming to your house. Well, guys, when you get in that tree of closeness, you get in Jesus' presence. You get in His presence and you meet with Him for a little while. We need that tree of closeness. Why did Zacchaeus get up there? He got up there because he wanted to see Jesus better. He was little, he couldn't see, he couldn't see because everybody was in his way. Sometimes you've got to get to the place where you can see better. Sometimes you've got to get up and you've got to say, I can't see because everybody's here. I've got to get up above them. Guys, you and I have got to do the same thing. When you've got trials, when you've got problems, when you've got situations, you need to get up above everybody's head. You need to get up above that trouble. You need to get up above that trial, that tribulation, that whatever it might be, so you can see Jesus. When you've got a problem, guys, that problem is going to magnify itself and close out your vision of Jesus. So what do you've got to do? You've got to rise above it so you can keep your eyes on Jesus. Somebody will get in your way and they'll get you ill, they'll get you mad, they'll get you bent out of shape, and suddenly you'll get a look into them. Guys, you'd better find your tree of closeness and climb up above them and get your eyes on Jesus. That's the surefire, quickest thing to get your closeness with Jesus. far, far apart. It's when we let people, when we let problems, when we let situations get our eyes off Jesus. We better climb that tree of closeness so we can find out where Jesus is so well, so we can see Him better. Now these are the trees we need to ID. These are the trees we need to identify. But, beloved, as I told you before, there are some trees we need to watch out for. like George of the Jungle. That little song on the cartoon said, watch out for that tree! There's some trees, beloved, you better watch out about. Some trees you better not run to. Some trees you don't even need to climb. You know, I remember one of my friends from childhood, Travis Henderson, we were out there near my uncle's where there were some pecan trees. And we were out there playing around, and he said, is this poison oak? I said, I don't know. And I remember daddy and I remember grandpa telling me about point oak. But I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember how many indentions the leaf had or what. I kind of vaguely remembered what it might have looked like, but I told him, I said, I don't think so. So he began to climb that tree. Well, the next few days later, he's itching his brains out because he got, whew, and he got mad at me because I told him, I don't know, I don't think it is, but it was something. So, God, I'm telling you, you need to watch out for these trees, because it will be a lot worse than poison oak on you. The first tree we need to watch out about is that juniper tree. I call that the tree of depression. Over in 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 4 and 5, it says this, But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Now, listen to what Eli just said. And he requested for himself that he might die. and said, It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat. Now guys, Elijah had just come down from the mountain. He'd just come down from Mount Carmel, where God sent down fire inside of heaven, and wham! He burned up the altar, he burned up the oxen, he burned up the whole thing there, and Elijah challenged the people of God to go after the prophets of Baal, 450 of them, and kill them all. Why? Because they were disobeying the commandment of God. And under the commandment, under the law, if you worshipped an idol, that was a capital crime and you were to be put to death. And so it is that Elijah had just come off of a great spiritual victory. And there it is, he'd come down off this mountain and suddenly Jezebel heard about this and she sent a message back to him. She said, when I catch you, you're going to be just like one of them prophets of Baal that you had killed. In other words, she told Elijah, the prophet, the man of God, you're in my sight, and you're on my hit list, and you're going to be dead. So what did Elijah do? Elijah took off running, and he ran, ran, ran, ran, ran, finally ran out of breath, and he got under a juniper tree. And the Bible says he sat down. That's his first mistake. He sat down, and then he began to have a pity party. He began to feel sorry for himself. He began to feel like, well, Lord, you just need to go ahead and just take my life, because she's going to catch me, she's going to fire me, and I'm just going to die. So you might as well just take me out of this world and just take me on home. But then what did he do? He went to sleep under that thing. He went to sleep under that juniper tree. He made two mistakes. He was going, he was heading down to Mount Sinai. But as he was going, he stopped, he sat down, and then he slept there. We don't need to be under no tree of depression. And when will the devil hit you? He will hit you when you get on a mountaintop experience, when you've been at revival and you're pumped up and you're ready to take on the world by storm and you're just having a wonderful time in God and suddenly somebody's going to come by and deflate you. I mean, guys, it might be sometimes you get so happy, you get so happy, you get so in God, and suddenly you just leave church and you're just so happy, you're singing, you're praising God, and suddenly, lo and behold, somebody cuts you off in traffic. Why, that... Or you get home and suddenly things begin to fall apart. Suddenly something ain't right. Suddenly something... this goes wrong, that goes south, that goes south, and suddenly before you know it, you didn't even seem like you'd ever been in church. I ain't making this up. Been there, done that. And sometimes you might begin to feel sorry for yourself or you get your eyes off Jesus. Suddenly you find yourself under the juniper tree of depression. Watch out for that tree. Get away from that tree. If you find a tree of depression, we need to stare clear around it. Just like a sailor, if he's heading towards shore, that lighthouse is going to tell him that there's some rocks there, he better get out of the way, or he's going to wind up like Gilligan on Gilligan's Island. So the tree of depression, get away from that tree. The sixth tree to watch out, I mean, not watch out for, but this one we definitely need to watch out for, is the oak tree, the tree of compromise. The Tree of Compromise. They say, what is this? All right, now, I could be here for a while and read you 1 Kings chapter 13 verses 14 through 26, but I'm not. I'm going to instead give you the overview of it. The Bible here talks about an unnamed man of God. The unnamed man of God comes out and he issues a statement. And the king tells him, I want you to come home and I want you to eat with me. Eat some bread with me, drink some water, and then go on your way. But the Lord had told this man of God not to do that. But when you tell what you're supposed to tell, go another way. And so he did. He obeyed God. Well, the thing is, the message from God never changed. Now, remember that. It never changed. God's message to him always was the same. If somebody asks you to go home with them and eat bread with them and drink water with them, don't go home with them. You go another way and you go back to your home. The message never changed. But as he went on his way, a prophet, another man of God, heard about the unnamed man of God. And he said, where is he? He said, oh, he's over yonder somewhere. He said, well, go get him. So the man of God The prophet went out and found the unnamed man of God. Make sure you keep them straight now. And he said, hey, why don't you come home with me? Be my guest. Eat bread with me and drink water with me. He said, no, God told me not to do that. He said, but God told me. Now here's the prophet. He's telling him a lie. He said, well, God told me it's all right. You can come home with me and eat bread with me and drink water with me and you'll be fine. The unnamed man of God took the prophet's word Even though God told him, don't do that, he said God told him that, it was fine. So instead of checking back with God, he trusted what that man said. He went home with him, ate bread with him, drank water with him, and then he got up, got on his ass, and went up the road. As he went up the road, a lion came out, tore him off of the beast, tore his body in shreds. There was another animal, I can't remember what it was, it came and then get this, both of them sat there. They didn't eat him, they just sat there and his carcass was in the road. Now you go back and read that, that was an oak tree. He was sitting under an oak tree when the man found him and told him to come with him. God, I don't, listen, I don't care what I tell you, I think that God says and God might have relayed to me. The thing is, you check and make sure that God actually said these things, teaches these things, and preaches these things. That is what has happened to too many Christians, too many Bible believers, and way too many churches tonight, is they've been sitting under the tree of compromise. A lot of times they merely go by what thus saith the preacher instead of what thus saith the Lord. That's why Paul was proud of the Bereans. Everything he preached to them, everything he taught to them, they went by and they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so or not. Now you listen to me and it may sound to you like I've got all my ducks in a row, but we, you and I, have to go back to the Word of God always. Why? Because that book is our authority. It ain't the Baptist creed of doctrine. It is not because we are Protestant. It is not because we're white. It isn't because we're this. It isn't because we're Southern. It isn't because we're this or that or the other. It is because that book, that Bible, tells us what is what. Too many people go back to their doctrinal creed, what their denomination puts out. They go by what their preachers or their presidents have put out, especially the Catholics. They got all these decrees and all these things from all these papal councils and all that. I mean, guys, that's what started the Protestant Reformation. That's what woke Martin Luther up. He was a preacher, guys, and listen, he never even read the New Testament! He never had! He merely got up and preached it like the priest and the Archbishop told him what to say. And that's what he did. And finally, the head of his order, I think he was an Augustinian monk, sent him where he could learn and read the New Testament in Greek. And when he did that, he found out that he was preaching and teaching things that were not in the Bible. And he got saved. And he said, this ain't right. Something's got to be done. And he began to write about it. And he issued a protest. the 95 theses. And suddenly the Pope, Leo X, didn't like it because John Tetzel was out there in Saxony drumming up money to pay for St. Peter's Basilica, the same thing that is over there in Rome today where the Popes stand up and speak. That church, that building, that basilica was paid for by money that was raised off of lies to the German and European and the Britons over there at that time. And Luther stood up against it, and when he did it, the money went down. Now, if you have never read or studied the life of Luther, you need to look at that man's life and that man's courage. He had courage. Because, guys, he lived in a time when you could lose your life for saying, I do not agree with what the Pope says, and he could have been put on the rack, you know what the rack was? Not iRack, but the rack. That's where your hands are tied above your head, your legs are tied, and they're on two spindles. And what happens is your body is hanging between those two rolls, and one of them rolls it this way, pulling your body down, and the other one rolls it this way, pulling your body up, and so now you're literally being stretched until you tear apart. That is called the racks. And they did that so people would convert to Christianity or because they dared speak against the Holy Mother Church, the Catholic Church, and not making it up again. Out of all church history, the Catholics are ashamed of that period the most. And they have apologized and apologized and apologized over that. And we have things in Baptist history that we're not too proud of, but how does all this happen? It happens because we're camped out under the tree of compromise. If the Bible says it, guys, and Jesus has taught this, it does not matter who likes it, who doesn't like it. If He says it's right, it's right. If He says it's wrong, it's wrong. It doesn't matter what you and I think. It doesn't matter what the world thinks, the President thinks, the Congress thinks. If God says it's right, it's right. If it offends them, it offends them. If they don't like it, they don't like it. It doesn't matter. God said this. That's what stands. Why? Because we believe what this Bible says. But too many people Go out under that oak tree, the tree of compromise, and somebody waddles along and says, hey, God said this, and they leave their Bible behind and they go follow that man over there, that woman over there, that group over there. The final tree I want you to be aware of in conclusion, it's the seventh tree in this message, and that's the tree of sorrow. Psalm 137 verses 1 and 2 says, By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our hearts upon the willows in the midst thereof. Now most of us in the South are familiar with a few types of trees. Magnolias, we are familiar with weeping cherries, and we are by far very mindful of the weeping willows. Those two trees, I know that weeping willows are trees of the south. Where did that weeping willow come from? It comes from right there in the Bible. That's where the name comes from. See, the Jews were in captivity and the Babylonians wanted them to take out their instruments and sing them songs of their homeland. And the Jews said, how can we sing these songs of joy in a land of captivity, in a land of slavery? We can't sing. So they hung up their hearts on them willow trees so that in their minds they said, we ain't going to never use them again. We're here in captivity. They thought forever. We ain't going to be singing no songs of happiness or joy or anything else. But you know, they did in the end. Sometimes, beloved, when you go back through our history of music and our hymns here inside of the church, you'll find that Some of our songs have actually come down through slavery. Most of y'all know this. Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me. Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me. Do, Lord, oh, do, Lord, oh, do remember me way beyond the blue. That comes from a Negro spiritual, they were called. Some of our songs come from slavery. And so, in times, you can sing even when you're in sorrow. Many times at funerals, there will be songs played. I expect there to be some songs played at my funeral unless the Lord comes back. There is a tree that we're all going to go under one of these days somewhere. If you haven't, well, you're either too young or you just haven't lived much. The tree of sorrow. Many of us in this room, we've lost loved ones near and dear to our hearts and we have camped out under them trees of sorrow. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4 that we sorrow not as those who have no hope. It is fine to sorrow, but what some people do, guys, is they can't leave that tree. They get under that weeping willow tree, they hang up their harp, and suddenly the Christian who has hope, suddenly they hang on to that loss and they just stay there. And they let the devil rob them of their joy. and of their life in Christ. Now, guys, sometimes you're never going to be able to not experience a little twinge of sorrow. Some in this church family have lost children. Some of us, we've lost parents. Some of us, we've lost spouses. Some of us have lost very near dear friends to our hearts. And in certain times, seasons, events, anniversaries, The memories come back and we do feel sorrow from time to time. That's never going to go away. But the thing that we should watch out for is that balm, that comfort we get by just sitting there and sitting there. Because if you're not careful, the tree of sorrow will then begin to turn into the tree of depression. When so many people suddenly sitting under that tree of sorrow, they just sit there and they just sit there and sit there and suddenly they just slither. drag themselves over to the juniper tree, the tree of depression, and then they just say, well, Lord, just take me on home. Watch out for those trees. Go under the weeping willow, go under the tree of sorrow and grieve. We need that. But then after you grieve, let God bind up your wounds, bind up your heart and lead you out, because God, He will do that. He will bring you out from under that tree. You've got to get out from under that tree because you're not done yet. God ain't called you. God ain't finished yet. He wasn't finished with the Jews in Babylon. They thought it was all over with. But 70 years went by. That's all they had to sit there. 70 years. And then some of them went back home to the promised land. What may seem like an eternity for you is not an eternity. It may be just a small, short time compared to God's time. For you to sit there under that tree of sorrow and then move on. But don't let that tree become your home. Grieve and keep marching. Keep walking. And above all, keep praising God. Tree of Sorrow. There was a dad. He had an only son. And that son had a very, very best friend. I know as an only child, I can speak from experience, that when you're an only child, sometimes you are guarded more than other children would be. And I thank God for that. Thank you, Daddy and Mama, for loving me and protecting me. But that dad was scared to death to take his son out on the water. He loved fishing and his son loved fishing off of the bank. But one day the son wanted to bring his buddy with him and take him fishing. And they didn't want to sit on the bank. Not on the seashore. They wanted to go out. So finally after a few years, The dad said, all right, I'm comfortable with this. So they got a boat. His son came, and then his son's best friend came out. Now, a year before, the son had been going to church with his mama. And then the dad went to church. And dad got saved. So now the family was saved. But the son's best friend didn't go to church. And so the dad realized that this is one way that his son was trying to get his friend to come to church with him, to share Jesus with him most of all. The storm blew up. The waves began to hit the boat. They couldn't make it back to shore. It was too much. The waves began to hit the ship, and the ship began to turn from side to side, and suddenly it almost began to capsize. As it went that way, another wave smashed into the boat, washing the son and the best friend overboard. They flailed about in the waters, and that dad had to make one of the most gut-wrenching decisions of his entire life. He knew. He knew if his son died, he knew his son would go to heaven. He knew if that other boy died, he would drop straight into hell. He threw the lion out, and as fast as he could, he reeled in the best friend. And his son drowned. He tried to save his son, but it was too much. The storm, the wave, washing further and further, and he knew he had a split second to do what the unthinkable was and save the friend, the stranger, the young boy that was not his son. And he pulled him into safety. And his son drowned. There are people tonight that would tell me what I just told you is a lie or a nice, wonderful, not wonderful, but a moral story. I heard that story from a pastor. He says it's true. You know why? Because I was the boy that was pulled from the water. He got saved. I couldn't see my mom or my daddy in my heart because of the love they have shown me. I couldn't see them doing that. But I know that if push came to shove and the sacrifice was called for, God, that's what God did for you and I. He sent His only begotten Son to die for us. That dad could have sat under that tree of sorrow forever. Knowing that He is responsible for letting His Son drown, but He knew that there was a purpose in all of it. There was a purpose in the death of Jesus Christ. He didn't just go there and die. He went there and gave His life so that the world might come to know Him. He sat under that tree of sorrow, that Dad did, and He came out from under that tree of sorrow. Because he knows in his heart, because he saved and his son was saved, there will be a happy meeting in heaven, I know. Tree ID. Watch out for that tree. Watch out for the tree of sorrow. Watch out for the tree of depression. And watch out for the tree of compromise. But identify the tree of salvation. Identify the tree of study, prayer and rest. Identify the tree of patience, the tree of closeness. Identify those four and run to them. If you've already run to some of them, make sure you find the other ones too. Guys, I don't know about y'all, but we need them. Some of them, avoid them like the plague. If you come in contact with them, get out and get there and go. Find that other tree. Because one day, guys, we're going to be like Stonewall Jackson. In the last words he spoke, in a clear moment of his life, as it was coming to an end, they said that his eyes focused and he looked above and he said in a soft voice, let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees. One of these days, guys, we're going to cross that river, that so-called River Jordan, and we're going to cross into the Promised Land. where the tree of life and others are blooming. One of these days, guys, we're going to be able to walk into that presence where God is, our Savior is, and our loved ones are, and we're going to be able to sit and stay. But now these trees are there to provide us some shade and some relief, and others are there beckoning us. Remember these trees. Tree ID. Watch out for that tree. And remember that one day we'll get to cross over and be under those trees that will never fade away, that will always be in bloom, and that land of bliss and joy supernal forevermore.