Old Roots New Fruits | Holly Furtick | Elevation Church

TL;DR Summary

In this engaging sermon, Holly Furtick delves into the theme of “Old Roots New Fruits,” using the metaphor of a tree stump to illustrate the potential for new growth and hope in seemingly dead areas of our lives. She invites the congregation to reflect on the stumps in their lives—those areas that feel cut off or barren—and to recognize that God can bring forth new life from them. This message is particularly resonant during the Christmas season, a time often filled with both joy and stress, as it encourages believers to find hope and renewal in their faith.

Holly draws from Isaiah 11:1-2, where the prophet speaks of a shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse, symbolizing the coming of the Messiah. She explains that even when life feels reduced to a stump, God can bring forth new fruit from old roots. This prophecy about Jesus serves as a reminder that God’s promises are fulfilled in unexpected ways, and that He can transform our disappointments into opportunities for growth. Holly emphasizes that the spirit of Christ brings supernatural life, even in the most unlikely circumstances.

The sermon encourages listeners to acknowledge their stumps and trust in God’s ability to bring new life from them. Holly offers practical steps for tapping into spiritual roots, such as remembering God’s past faithfulness, rejoicing in His goodness, and remaining rooted in community and routine. She challenges the congregation to look beyond the surface and see the tender shoots of hope that God is nurturing in their lives. This message of transformation and renewal is a powerful reminder of the true spirit of Christmas and the enduring hope found in Christ.

Full Sermon Transcript

[Music] well Merry Christmas you guys look great welcome to everyone here at Valentine and those of you who are at our campuses or watching online I am so glad that you are with us today I know that there are like Pastor Stephen just said a thousand things that you could be doing on this the very last Sunday before Christmas but there is no more important place than where you are right here today. I love our church do you love our church? I love this season at our church we’ve been talking about how last weekend many of us participated in our year-end offering and I just love watching everybody come and give cheerfully here at Ballantyne and I know that there were people giving online in all of our locations and it’s just it’s one of my favorite things to watch because giving is not like buying something it’s not like spending money on something and you’re never going to see that money again giving is investing in the work of God and it’s sowing a seed and believing that you’re going to see a harvest for the future and for a church this size that means that we have a lot of seed in the ground going into next year right so the offering is not over like you have heard Pastor Steven say and Chad said I just want to say it to you too you can still give you go to elevationchurch.org click give and um God’s going to bless you and make sure that you’re making plans to join us for Christmas too it’s an amazing opportunity to bring someone I feel like everybody’s been saying this on stage I just want to say it too don’t miss it bring your neighbors bring your people you work with it’s always a fun worshipful experience to be here with your family and so make sure you find out the times that your campuses are going to have your Christmas experience and when we’re going to be online and here at Valentine’s so I know our pastor Just prayed and sometimes I feel like when he prays like that we I could just go home because and there’s nothing like having somebody pray over you like that and um I know that there are a million things on your mind right now that you have a running list of things that you need to get done maybe you’re stressing about how you’re going to pay for Christmas maybe you’re stressing about you know relationships certain family members maybe you still have gifts to buy and rap and delivering food to prepare and so every time that I preach I just like to give people a moment to just acknowledge that all of those things are on our minds and just give you a moment to to let them go in the just for the next few moments that we have together we just need to give God the space that he deserves in the midst of all of the chaos and all of the busyness of the season I just want us to remember that Emmanuel here with us in this place wherever you’re watching from God is here he wants to speak to us today so just open up your hands like this I know we already prayed we’re going to pray one more time and I want you to repeat after me Lord I’m ready to receive from you now I want to hear what you have to say to me today [Music] in Jesus name amen all right before you take your seat I want to read our scripture it’s not a long one comes from Isaiah chapter 11 verses 1 and 2. it says this a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse from his roots a branch will bear fruit of the Lord will rest on him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and of Might the spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord and He will Delight in the fear of the Lord today I want to talk to you about old roots new fruits give somebody a hug and take your seat.

So I have one silly Christmas obsession I’m not actually a huge Christmas girl sorry if that offends you I don’t care very much for Christmas music in fact I can really I really only like instrumental Christmas music like I I’m just I’m not a big Christmas music fan I also I’m sorry like I said I’ve never done Elf on the Shelf with my kids I I know some people really love it and it’s great just not me we also have never gone to a tree farm as a family to cut down our Christmas tree just not into it but there is one Christmas tradition that I love and if you know me you know that I love Christmas ornaments not these kind of Christmas ornaments these These are filler ornaments Now understand I have a tree a big tree in my living room and I call it the fancy tree and it has all of the beautiful glittering coordinating ornaments and you know the sticks and all those things in our living room but in our family room we have the family tree and this tree has colored lights on it and it is basically a documentation of the history of the furtic family so every year I pick out an ornament for every person in our family sometimes they get more than one ornament it just it’s things that represent something that they love or they accomplished in that year so like I brought a few to show you so um this was Elijah’s ornament last year because he got his driver’s license um okay and then let’s see uh where’s grams here’s this one’s grams from 2018 when he won the North Carolina State wrestling championship 85 pounds okay um this was Abby’s ornament the year that she turned two she loved the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she carried this ornament around the house the whole Christmas season she broke the ear off I couldn’t get it to glue back on so it had tape on it since since 2013. um that was Abby’s this year Steven he got um he got this because he won a Grammy this year hello we couldn’t let that go undocumented on our Christmas tree even Bo has an ornament with this this little paw print okay I also document the places that we go so if I I love gift shops when we travel I am a I am a gift shop tourist and so you know here’s here’s our ornament from the Holy Land um here’s our ornament from Stephen and I went to Big Sur for our 20-year anniversary I always write everything on the ornament to document the year and everything hold on I have one more oh here’s one from our family vacation Sullivan’s Island you know all of these things are the the history of our family and this year when we were decorating the house I could not find the travel ornaments anywhere and I checked every tub I checked in the Attic um for maybe like a missing box it didn’t get brought down I checked all those places multiple times and I’m I’m not I’m not proud of this and I can’t believe that I’m actually telling you this but I cried because I had convinced myself that all of our family memories had accidentally been thrown in the trash when we were putting Christmas away last year and that we were basically going to forget all the places that we have been and all the things that we’ve done and Stephen said exactly what he was supposed to say he was like Holly I’m sure they’ll turn up and I was like no they’re not going to turn up I’ve looked everywhere the furtic family history has been erased we found them of course about an hour later and they’re all safely on our tree our history is preserved that was my Christmas miracle I know you’re I know you’re um relief for me okay so In this passage we don’t have a beautiful tree with shiny ornaments we have a stump and Isaiah is prophesying to the nation of Israel and he’s telling them that even though they’re in captivity and their nation has been reduced to almost nothing he’s saying a messiah is still to come and when this Messiah comes he’s going to rule with wisdom and understanding he’s going to be the ultimate perfect King when he judges it’s going to be the perfect judgment and when he comes he’s still going to come through the line of David he says a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse from his roots the branch will bear fruit and some scholars believe that Isaiah used Jesse David’s father to symbolize even further how there would be a complete absence of Royal dignity in the house of Israel by the time that the Messiah comes a stump from the very thing that looks absolutely dead there’s a chance of life the Messiah the perfect is Gonna Come so I was thinking if Isaiah were here today and he were to visit my home and he were to look at my Christmas tree I think he would ask me why why the tree go with me here because the tree is beautiful and and this this tree is real but actually this tree is dead like dead dead because it has been cut off from its roots but boy can we make a dead tree look good you know like one trip to Hobby Lobby and 50 off and we’ve got ornaments and we’ve got lights and we’ve got a little basket thing around the bottom and a tree skirt and we put presents under it and it’s beautiful but it is dead dead dead and in about a month this tree is going to turn brown and it’s going to fall apart no chance of life because it’s been cut off from its roots if Isaiah was picking a symbol for Christmas I think he would pick a stump guess what I’ve got one that they’re gonna bring out okay so they’re bringing out my stump Here Comes shout out to Preston Wilson from our Gaston campus and also our production team here at Ballantyne I have no idea how they got this thing um in this in here this is a real tree stump and and I think I’m gonna have you guys here take my table and I’m going to use this because I I want this to be front and center today oh here take the basket too I’m done with that thank you okay stump don’t look at that it looks dead for all intents and purposes it is dead because everything that represents life branches leaves blossoms fruits have been cut off and thrown away but there is life beneath the stump because there’s roots that are alive under the surface one person said it this way he said the spirit of Christmas is sentimental like my ornaments but the spirit of Christ Supernatural life where it seems impossible and it was about 600 years from the time of this prophecy to the time of its fulfillment and by the time that the Messiah comes the people of God as a nation look almost extinct there is just a remnant of people who still believe that the Messiah is Gonna Come and when Jesus enters the scene not as this glorious shining King he comes as a baby whose birth is so overlooked that he’s born in a barn a tender shoot Isaiah says this is Christmas not this Christmas is about having hope for the places where you feel stumped your mistakes your disappointments the areas where you feel like you’re failing sure we all have wonderful accomplishments that deserve to be celebrated in fact I love reading people’s Christmas cards and their messages on social media when they post a picture of you know their family Christmas picture I love how people give updates I guess I’m nosy I like to know what’s going on in people’s lives so I like when they talk about this trip that they went on or they moved to a new neighborhood or they’ve welcomed a new grandchild into their family they got a new puppy all these things are wonderful and we can celebrate them but just know that nobody talks about their stumps in their Christmas card and you shouldn’t we don’t want you to [Applause] but the message of Christmas is not about the shiny areas of your life the message of Christmas is that there’s hope for your stumps how is this possible I’m gonna give you a quick science lesson thank you YouTube and this little known Channel that I found called Granny’s Garden okay so granny had a tree in her garden and the tree was not doing well most of the branches were dead and the dead branches were stealing nutrients from the few remaining live ones but the tree itself was in an important location in her garden and its root system was keeping a hill from eroding in her yard so she needed to save the tree but in order to save the tree she had to cut it down and grow it back from the roots so she cuts down the tree knowing that what what’s gonna happen is that the root system is going to spring into action because as soon as the root system realizes no leaves no branches that means no growth so it’s going to draw from all the nutrients down underneath the ground from the farthest tips of the roots and it’s going to push up a tiny baby shoot I have an image of what this looks like this is our Christmas tree when the thing that has been tripping you up the thing that you thought was dead that actual thing brings forth New Life baby baby life but first we have to identify the stump so we had some dead trees along our driveway and we had to have them cut down and when the guy came out you know he gave me some price options and he said you know I can cut the tree down for x amount of money and it’s really expensive to have a tree cut down it’s like I don’t want to spend my money on that okay and then he said well um but if you want me to remove the stump it’s gonna cost even more so of course I was like well who cares about stump I chose the cheaper option to leave the stumps the problem became that people didn’t know that there were stumps along our driveway and they would accidentally run over them Buck is smiling because I’m pretty sure it was him one time I came home and he was having to have his car towed sorry about that buck an unidentified stump will cause you problems okay you will it will trip you up so we’ve got to go ahead and just acknowledge the stumps in our lives there’s big ones there’s little ones but we all have stumps you might have a stump because of something that was not your fault something that was done to you an accident that happened maybe an attack from the enemy to keep you from living out the calling that God has placed on your life you might have a stump in your life that was completely of your own doing you know right now I have two teenage boys and I was talking to a friend the other day about the difference in the differences between teenagers and toddlers because there’s actually quite a lot of similarities they sleep at all the wrong times they constantly want to snack and you’re always trying to keep them from hurting themselves the difference is the stakes are so much higher with teenagers let me illustrate this I have a picture um these are my toddler boys and you can see my face in in the background like that was the face that I constantly had because these little boys were constantly climbing and jumping and in danger of getting hurt and I right there I’m just envisioning us going to the ER to get stitches this is what I have now I’ve got another picture for you driver’s license Graham has his driver’s permit when they were toddlers I was worried about stitches not stitches are the least of my worries people’s lives are at stake and I tell my boys you can take that picture now I tell them all the time you have to think you have to be aware of the decisions that you’re making because one dumb decision in a moment can alter the course of your life I just trying to keep them from getting some stumps too soon in their lives and you might have a stump in your life today that represents a bad decision that you made in a moment and you don’t know how you’re ever gonna recover from it but there’s a third kind of stump and it’s perhaps the hardest one to understand because it’s when God creates a stump in your life John 15 Jesus is famously talking to the disciples about the vine and the branches and he tells the disciples that the vine dresser he’s talking about God cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit the same thing that Granny was telling us the diseased branches the dead branches the suckers suckers that’s an actual gardening term and it means that the the non-fruit-bearing branches are sucking the nutrients from the fruit bearing branches and I know you didn’t come to church today for a science lesson but Jesus said it he cuts off every branch in me that does not bear fruit so I came to tell you today perhaps that relationship was a sucker keeping you from bearing fruit the dream that you had in actuality would be a nightmare and God was keeping it from you so that you could experience the fullness of Life In Christ so we’ve got to come to terms with our stumps today and it doesn’t matter how they’re there it doesn’t matter if the devil caused it if you cause it or if God caused it it’s there and it’s painful and it’s disappointing and it’s tripping you up the good news that I have for you today is out of the stump will come a shoot this prophecy it’s about Jesus the Messiah but it is a truth from God’s word for you today one version of Isaiah 11 1 says a new Branch bearing fruit from an old root I want you to know today that a new fruit is Gonna Come from an old root there’s time where you plant seeds and you do a new but today new fruit from an old root Jeremiah 17 7. it’s one of the best verses in the whole Bible in my opinion blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord whose confidence is in him they will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream it does not fear when heat comes its leaves are always green it has no worries in a year of drought and it never fails to bear fruit if you are a believer in Christ today I want you to know that your roots are there you just have to tap them when the tree gets cut down what do the roots do they spring into action it’s like quadruple time the work that it normally would do and it draws up everything it can but you know what I do a lot of times with my stumps I just pretend like they’re not there I numb whatever it is you do to numb you know we watch TV or you avoid you shop you scroll and honestly scrolling is the worst the worst thing that you can do because when you’re scrolling you’re looking at everyone else’s beautiful life [Music] and you start to think like well I’m the only one that has stumps but of course they’re not gonna put their stumps on their Facebook page and if they do that’s really bad I mean we don’t please don’t put your stumps but don’t compare your stump to someone else’s tree [Applause] [Music] thank you don’t ignore it don’t compare it just acknowledge it I’ve Got Roots you’re like a tree planted by the water you might have been cut down in an area of your life but you’re rooted there’s life that’s still there so I put together a list of ways for you to tap your roots and none of these things are going to blow your mind they’re all sort of common sense sometimes you just need a friend to come alongside you and say hey here’s you can do this remember how you did this and that’s my goal today so I’m going to give you a couple of ways to tap your roots they all start with the letter r are you ready first one is remember can you remember the past faithfulness of God in your life I feel like I say this every time I get on this stage but maybe like see me as your mom today you know how your mom tells you the same things over and over again but this time you’re going to listen okay this is so important sometimes we have to recall the goodness when you when you’re staring at the stump recall the goodness of God in your life can you remember a time that he provided for you Lamentations three says that this I will recall to my mind and therefore I have hope it is because of the Lord’s great Mercy that we are not consumed his compassions fail not they are new every morning great is your faithfulness God he’s been faithful to you focus on his faithfulness the next one is rejoice one of my all-time favorite Pastor Stephen quotes in 20 years of hearing him preach is when he said my joy is my job I’m not waiting on someone to make me smile I’m not waiting on something good to happen to me I Will Rejoice right now I will take time to be grateful not only to look back but to look around and to see the goodness of God right now in my life I can focus on my stump what I don’t have or I can choose to rejoice in what I do have God has been good to you to put a smile on your face and sing a song and lift up your hands because he’s been good to you rejoice in the Lord and then there’s requests my dad taught me when I was a little girl that God’s phone number was Jeremiah 33 3. it says this call unto me and I will answer you and show you Great and Mighty things that you do not know I just want to say it might be time for you to stop talking to people about your problems and present your requests to God he is the one who will show you the things you do not know cry out to him tell him what’s in your heart ask him to show you the way forward the Bible says knock and I will answer make your request to God this next one is kind of counter-intuitive okay it’s a little bit harder to hear regard Philippians 2 tells us that if we are to be like Jesus we are to not merely look out for ourselves but also for the interests of others Paul says we must regard others as more important than ourselves I know your situation is difficult I know your situation is painful but I guarantee you that there is someone else close to you who also has a great need you don’t need to compare your stumps but sometimes the best thing that you can do when you feel like something has been cut off from your life is to do something for someone else [Applause] it doesn’t make sense but just trust me if you will stop staring at your stump and look around Christmas is all about perspective it’s about learning to see and value what God sees a baby in a barn Shepherds in a field can you regard someone else as more important than yourself get your mind off of yourself then there’s the root of routine now last week if you were not here last week you’ve got to go back and listen I I know I say that every time I preach too but that’s because if you’re missing church I feel so bad for you so Stephen talked about um getting his hair cut does anybody remember that it was a really small part of his message but it spoke very deeply to me and he said that when someone someone asked him one time what do you do when you don’t feel like preaching and he said while I get my hair cut and he talked about just doing the next thing that he he does the thing that he does every week before he preaches and he told us that we we have to learn to send a signal to ourselves that it’s time to do the work that we’ve been called to do no matter how you feel no matter what’s been taken from you keep your routine get up get going exercise take a walk take your kids to school show up for work on time do the things of Life have your song a guy came up to us at a restaurant a couple weeks ago and um he said to Stephen with tears in his eyes he said I just want to thank you for the song and I was thinking he was gonna you know do some like like you know come to the altar or like a you know a slow song he said I just have to thank you for the song rattle he said I’ve listened to that song at least every day for the past year and that song has saved my life find your song and put it on repeat because it’s gonna tell your body it’s gonna tell your mind is going to tell the devil that you’re getting to work now that you’re not gonna be stopped you’re not gonna be stumped find your verse keep doing the things that you know you’re supposed to do it’s simple but sometimes we forget life cannot stop because something didn’t turn out the way you thought it would and when you keep your routine you’re sending a message to yourself and you’re sending a message to the devil and everyone around you that a shoot is gonna come up from this stump bye God I’m not stopping just because something got cut off I’ve Got Roots that go deep and I’m going to keep doing the things that I know to do until I see that shoot come up the last one is remain I gotta show you psalm 92. it says the righteous will flourish like a palm tree they will grow like a Cedar of Lebanon planted in the house of the Lord they will flourish in the courts of our God they will still bear fruit in old age they will stay fresh and green are you planted in the house of the Lord because I’m just gonna tell you this place is a stream and every week our pastor comes out on this stage with water for our thirsty Souls this is fertile soil for your roots and whether you’re watching online or you’re joining us at one of our campuses the people watching with you the people sitting next to you the people in your e-group the people you volunteer with they are the ones who will walk with you through your pain through your divorce through your surgery through your recovery this is the place where your roots find a direct source of water draw from The Roots look for the shoot Christmas is a tender shoot of hope I have one it’s small it’s vulnerable it comes in unexpected ways and at unexpected times and when I see this shoot I was thinking of a couple who’s on staff at our church and they’ve been trying to have a baby for five years and she told me recently that they’ve almost finished their home study to become foster parents Parenthood has been a stump in their lives for five years and finally this Christmas there’s a shoot a tiny tender shoot of Hope I love the Christmas carol that says a thrill of hope when you find that tiny shoot and you know God is in this this is the way this is the way he wants me to go he hasn’t given up on you and she told me this week she said I never thought that this would be my Parenthood Journey but God’s plans are always better than ours be careful because the shoot may not always look the way you think it will when God chose to send Jesus to Earth he picked an unlikely couple the baby was born in an unlikely place he didn’t send his son to Earth descending from the clouds as a full-grown man He sent Jesus in the form of a needy little baby and that’s why Isaiah called him a tender shoot coming forth from the place you never expected it and that’s the thing about hope hope is here but it might not be the way you expected it to be it’s not going to be big not this time it’s going to be small like a baby step to fill out the application to schedule an appointment with a counselor and it’s going to need nurturing and you’re going to have to tend to it and if you’re not careful you might miss it you’re gonna have to slow down and I’m so guilty especially this time of year filling my schedule so full that I don’t have time for Jesus I don’t have time for a shoot that’s this Christmas tree the meals and the parties and the family and the lights on the house and the kids programs and the gifts all of those things are good but don’t let them make you miss the miracle of the shoot the new thing that God is doing in your life through that disappointment through that thing that was tripping you up through that failure there’s life in the dead places this Christmas Jesus said Jesus said in John 11 25. he said I think we’ve got it up here I am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me though he die yet he shall live God is doing a new thing in your life he wants to give you a new name he wants to restore your dignity he wants to give you a second chance at love a second chance at healthy relationships new dreams New Paths new fruits from old roots [Applause] that’s the good news something good is Gonna Come from that dead spot because that’s how God gets the glory you don’t need to plant a new seed you already have roots draw from the roots that you have and wait and believe isn’t that the message of Christmas of the Christmas story wait and believe that God does his best work in my dead places amen let’s pray Lord you said in your word that you came to Earth set the captives free she came to comfort those who mourn that you would give Beauty for Ashes and you said that we would be called Oaks of righteousness a planting of the Lord for the display of your Splendor God would you work in our dead places today so that we can be a display of your Splendor so that people will say wow look what God has done in your life open up our eyes God to see the tender baby shoots help us to see that hope is here right now it’s not there it’s not in 2023 it’s here it’s right now help us to see what you see don’t let us miss the tender shoots that you’re pushing up in our lives God we love you so much in Jesus name we pray amen [Applause] [Music] well thanks for joining us today for the message and we trust that God spoke to you right where you are as we’re in this year-end season if God is speaking to your life and you’d like to begin tithing or give above and beyond we would invite you to head over to elevationchurch.org there you’ll find all of the information available for you to take part in the year-end offering if you haven’t begun tithing we would always encourage you to start there Place God first in the air of your finances and begin tithing and make that a part of your everyday life if you already tie then would like to go above and beyond and help expand the ministry here at Elevation Church you can also do that through the year-end offering all you have to do is click the banner at elevationchurch.org you can select the campus that you’re a part of if you’re part of our online community select online and if you’re part of one of our physical locations make sure that you select one of those campuses then you can select how much you’d like to give and be a part of all that God is doing right here at Elevation Church again with thank you for being a part of the family here and we can’t wait to see how God works in and through your life as you open up your hands and ask God to use you right where you are thanks for being a part God bless