1. ROOTED AND GROUNDED-COL 2:7
PASTOR NOEL ABDULLAHI

2. THE STORY OF THE PREGNANT DEER- Preamble

3. THE STORY OF THE PREGNANT DEER
Consider this scenario:
In a remote forest, a pregnant deer is about to give birth to a baby. It finds a remote grass field near by a river and slowly goes there thinking it would be safe.

4. THE STORY OF THE PREGNANT DEER CONTD.
As she moves slowly, she gets labor pain. At the same moment, dark clouds gather around that area and lightning starts a forest fire.
Turning left she sees a hunter who is aiming an arrow from a distance. As she tries to move towards right, she spots a hungry lion approaching towards her.....

5. THE STORY OF THE PREGNANT DEER
What can the pregnant deer do .as she is already under labor pain ?
What do you think will happen?
Will the deer survive?
Will it give birth to a fawn?
Will the fawn survive? OR
Will everything be burnt by the forest fire?
That particular moment?

6. THE STORY OF THE PREGNANT DEER
Can the deer go left? Hunter’s arrow is pointing!
Can she go right? Hungry male lion approaching!
Can she move up? Forest fire!
Can she move down? Fierce River!

7. THE STORY OF THE PREGNANT DEER
Answer: She does nothing. She just focuses on giving birth to a new LIFE!
The sequence of events that happens at that fraction of a second (moment) are as follows:

8. THE STORY OF THE PREGNANT DEER CONTD.
In a spur of MOMENT & a lightning strikes (already it is cloudy ) and blinds the eyes of the Hunter. At that MOMENT, he releases the arrow missing and zipping past the deer. At that MOMENT the arrow hits and injures the lion badly. At that MOMENT, it starts to rain heavily and puts out the forest fire. At that next MOMENT, the deer gives birth to a healthy fawn.

9. THE STORY OF THE PREGNANT DEER CONTD.
We all feel the same. Whatever one may call it, I would see the priority of the deer in that given moment was to giving birth to a baby AS RIGHT, because LIFE IS PRECIOUS!!!
Hence, whether you are Deer or a Human, keep that Faith and Hope within...

10. 2Cor 4:8-10 (TLB)
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. 9 We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. 10 These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did; so it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within who keeps us safe. *Isa 30:15, 31:1

11. THE CASE FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3RD JN 1 why? 3-4

12. THE CASE FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
In his book “BUSINESS BY THE BOOKS”- Larry Burkett said; “Prior to the 21st century, business courses, and indeed business schools themselves, were based on biblical principles, In fact, it would be erroneous to label them “business schools”. In reality, they were biblical schools that were training future business leaders.
Avoid Business Bondage*

13. THE CASE FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH-THE KEY TO INHERITANCE
JESUS TEMPLATE-LK 2:52 &40 GAL 4:1

14. THE FLIP SIDE..HEB 5:11-12
Heb 5:11 Concerning this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull in your [spiritual] hearing and sluggish [even slothful in achieving spiritual insight].

15. THE FLIP SIDE..HEB 5:11-12 CONTD.
Heb 5:12 For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God's Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food.

16. LESSONS FROM TREES
Trees are a part of our lives. There are few places without them, and they provide us with so much. What can God teach us using trees?

17. LESSONS FROM TREES CONTD.
The Bible has a fair amount to say about trees. It begins with the two trees in the Garden of Eden and ends with the tree of life, which bears 12 types of fruit and which has leaves for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:1-2).

18. LESSONS FROM TREES CONTD.
The prophet Isaiah wrote, “That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified” (Isaiah 61:3).
Matthew 13:31-32

19. Tallest and most iconic trees in the world
Baobab. Its back is fire resistant. Its fruit is edible. It scoffs at the driest droughts. It shrugs, and another decade has passed. It is the baobab, one of the longest-living, strangest looking trees in the world.

20. Tallest and most iconic trees in the world
Giant California Redwoods
Stout Grove on the Oregon/California border near the coast. Just being among them is very humbling. Having no other people around even more so.

21. Tallest and most iconic trees in the world
Giant California Redwoods
Stout Grove on the Oregon/California border near the coast. Just being among them is very humbling. Having no other people around even more so.
General Sherman in California’s Sequoia National Park, which towers more than 274 feet high and is over 100 feet around the base, began with a tiny seed that weighed ⅙,000 of an ounce.
Psalms 1:1-3 (MSG), Psm 92:12-15

22. Tallest and most iconic trees in the world
1 OUNCE OF GOLD-The seed
Of the red oak is 1/6000=

23. Tallest and most iconic trees in the world
Olive trees will produce loads of fruit in the cruelest heat and driest gravels.
Olive trees like this giant on Sicily have watched kingdoms rise and fall, have lived through a hundred droughts and, though they may date back to the time of the ancient Romans, still produce fruit every fall. 
Not only that, the trees thrive in places where others may wither–and olives don’t only thrive, but thrive for century after century. The oldest olive tree West Bank, folks may brag that their Al Badawi tree, in the Bethlehem district, is the oldest olive of all, at between 4,000 and 5,000 years.

24. HOW THE HUMAN SPIRIT GROWS
BY MEDITATION IN THE WORD – JOSH 1:8
BY PRACTICING THE WORD-James 1:22, PHIL 1:8
BY GIVING THE WORD FIRST PLACE-PROV 4:20-22
BY INSTANTLY OBEYING THE VOICE OF YOUR SPIRIT-PROV 20:27
WORD BASED AND SPIRIT SATURATED PRAYING-
MRK 1:35, 1 COR 14:14-15, JUDE 20.

25. ASCENDING HIGHER
SOME ARE CONTENT WITH BEING IN ZION, HOWEVER THIS IS A CLARION CALL FOR THOSE WHO ARE DISCONTENTED WITH WHERE THEY ARE SPIRITUALLY.
WE WILL NEVER LEAVE OUR “BABYLON” UNTILL WE BECOME VERY DISCONTENT!- DANIEL CARAM

26. ASCENDING HIGHER
THIS IS CAPTURED IN THE PSALM OF THE ASCENTS (PSALM ) PSALM 120 VS 5, ISAIHA 6:5-8,Psalm 121: 1, 122:1. SONG- LORD LIFT ME UP TO HIGHER GROUND/DESPERATE PEOPLE

27. APPENDIX SLIDES

28. LESSONS FROM MATHS

29. LESSONS FROM MATHS