“There’s a radical remnant rising up!”
When I first heard Holy Spirit say this, I asked Him what He meant by “radical.” To be honest, that word often carries a negative connotation in my mind. (But what we think and what God thinks can be two very different things! If God is speaking, we cannot allow our own biases to stand in the way of what He is trying to say!)
I felt like God said to look up “radical,” so I did… and what I found was powerful: RADICAL is defined as: “of or going to the root or origin; fundamental.” It comes from a Latin word meaning HAVING ROOTS.
I feel God is saying: To be radical is to be rooted.
The Prophet Isaiah writes, "Once more a REMNANT of the kingdom of Judah will take ROOT below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this" (Isaiah 37:31-32, NIV).
The remnant who is rooted will bear the fruits of revival! Church, revival is waiting for the radical remnant to rise up! Revival pours down as the radical remnant rises up! I believe God is asking us if we will be part of that radical remnant. Because I believe it’s going to rise up with or without us… but I don’t want to miss it!
2,000 years ago, a remnant of 120 followers of Christ planted themselves in an upper room until Holy Spirit came. In Acts 1, Jesus ascended back into Heaven. Then in Acts 2, Holy Spirit depended onto the Church. And everything changed! God’s plan was to use the Church (not a place, but a people) to change the world. And guess what — He hasn’t changed His mind.
The Church, which is you and me, is still His plan to change the world. Just like the 120 in Acts. Jesus told us: preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, disciple nations. We are here to bring Heaven to earth. We are here to displace darkness with His marvelous light. It’s not an option. It’s the reason we are alive!
We talk about revival all the time… but revival requires a response. We’re waiting on God, but what if God is waiting on us?! Holy Spirit has already come. Now it’s time for our response. Now it’s time to rise up as a radical remnant. A remnant that is rooted.
It’s one thing to "rise up." But it’s a whole other thing to rise up from a place that is rooted. Isaiah said if we are going to bear fruit above, we must first take root below. So what should our spiritual root system be like?
Right before Jesus was crucified, He had one final meal with His disciples. We call it the Last Supper. And at this meal, Jesus gave one final message to His friends. His words are recorded across five short chapters (13-17) in the Gospel of John. Each one of these chapters gives us a characteristic of the Radical Remnant. Let’s have a look.
The RADICAL REMNANT is…
1. RIGHTEOUS
“Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more.” - John 16:10 NLT
Because of what Jesus did for us we have access to something called righteousness. Not self-righteousness. Not something we can achieve in our own strength or by our own works. Scripture says our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:4). But Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin so we could become the righteousness of God! (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Religion reduces “righteousness” to a list of rules and regulations, but true righteousness is all about who we are in Christ! Religion is rules void of relationship… and dead rules will never save you. But relationship with Jesus will! And He not only saves you, but He also transforms you. Jesus makes us into new creations with a new identity. We become the righteousness of God! And from knowing who we are in Him comes a life of right living. We live right because we’ve been made right.
Psalms 92 says the righteous flourish like a palm tree. Created with a flexible trunk and fibrous roots that cling to the soil, palm trees can withstand hurricane force winds up to 145 mph. That’s enough force to cause severe damage to homes and buildings. But a palm tree can be left standing after a storm. When your identity is rooted in Christ’s righteousness, you can withstand any storm!
2. OBEDIENT
“If you love me, obey my commandments.” - John 14:15 NLT
Nothing complicated. Just simple obedience to the Lord. God has given us the gift of free will. We have the power to choose. The power to obey or not.
As a kid, my mom taught me about obedience. She would always say: Delayed obedience is disobedience. Yeah, I didn’t like that very much… but it’s true! Just ask Jonah! Jonah’s delayed obedience sent him into a storm then into the belly of a fish for 3 days. God in His mercy gave Jonah a second chance, but he still had to endure the consequences of his disobedience.
My mom would also tell me that: Partial obedience is disobedience. It’s so easy to do some of what God is saying and rationalize away the rest with spiritual-sounding excuses. Like King Saul did in 2 Samuel 15. (We talked about that in this post.) But that’s not true obedience either. We can’t pick and choose. It’s all or nothing.
What’s the last thing He told you to do? Have you done it? All of it?
Don’t become paralyzed by all the “what if’s.” Obedience is your responsibility. Outcome is God’s. Someone once said, “Great moves of God are usually preceded by simple acts of obedience.” Don’t underestimate the power of one step — even a small one — of obedience. It’s more powerful thank you think.
3. ONE
“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one.” - John 17:22 NLT
That verse is taken from the prayer Jesus prayed to the Father. Out of all the things Jesus could have asked for in His final days before He died, Jesus prayed that we would be one.
The giant redwoods in Yosemite are so massive! It’s absolutely breathtaking to be in a forest surrounded by them. I once learned from a park ranger that these trees have unique root systems. Not only do their roots go down deep into the soil, but they also spread out wide, traveling along the forest floor. The roots of one redwood will grow out wide until it finds the roots of another redwood. Then when the roots of two redwoods meet, they begin to intertwine together until the two root systems become one.
Many redwoods, not just two, will connect themselves together in this way. The park ranger told me that from a biological perspective, it becomes impossible to tell where one tree ends and another begins… it’s as if these multiple trees actually become one organism!
This connection across the root systems of many redwoods creates a foundation that is unshakable and able to support the enormous height and mass of the trees. Without interlocking together, the trees would be vulnerable to the elements. But root systems that are connected together can hold firm!
What a picture for our lives! Not only do our roots go down into Jesus, but they should also connect with other believers, becoming unified as one!
This is why the corporate gathering of church is so important. This is why we have to forgive the offenses. Set aside the differences that don’t really matter. And gather around what actually matters… and His name is Jesus. Revival flows through unity. Where there is unity, God commands the blessing!
4. TENDER
“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” - John 13:35 NLT
The difference between just talking about love and actually walking in love is a tender heart.
Don’t have a hard or callous heart towards those God has told us to love. We must keep a tender heart that love can flow freely from. Not a compromising heart. But a tender one. The kind Jesus has — firm against sin, yet tender towards people. After all, it’s His kindness that draws people to repentance (Romans 2:4).
Revival falls on tender hearts. Revival flows from tender hearts. Not hearts of stone, but hearts of flesh… living sacrifices. We stay tender by staying in His presence. Being with Love Himself tenderizes our hearts.
The world has its own idea of what love is — and it’s all mixed up. It’s time for us to rise up, with tender hearts, and show the world what love really looks like.
5. STEADFAST
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” - John 15:4 NLT
When’s the last time you saw a tree uproot itself and walk down the street? Never! When a tree is planted somewhere, it remains there! It’s steadfast!
We have to be steadfast in Jesus. We can’t just connect one day and disconnect the next. We can’t be in one day and out the next. A shaken world needs an unshakable church. A shaken world needs a steadfast church, rooted and grounded and unmovable in the love and truth of Jesus!
As the Prophet Jeremiah says, "They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit" (Jeremiah 17:8, NLT).
We are to be trees with roots that reach deep into God’s living water… then we’re not bothered by drought, but rather bear fruit in EVERY season! Steadfast!
The Prophet Ezekiel also writes, "Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing" (Ezekiel 47:12, NLT).
As a steadfast, rooted tree, you can be used by God to bring food and healing to those in need. That’s revival! Revival not based on what’s happening around us, but a revival that is rooted in Who is within us.
So, how’s your spiritual root system?
- R ighteous
- O bedient
- O ne
- T ender
- S teadfast
Revival requires a response. Will you be part of the radical remnant that is rising up? Jesus didn’t die so we could sit in a pew. He died and rose again so we could bring the power of Heaven to earth.
There’s a radical remnant rising up!
For more, I preached this message at my church and it can be viewed here.