Can You Dig? — Team Leaders Meeting — Rich Wilkerson Jr.

i want to talk from genesis 26 from this thought can you dig can you dig look at your neighbor say can you dig that was like a 70s phrase i think back then like you good man you down with that you feel and i think even into this weekend it's a little bit of a phrase that you can use as you're challenging people with first things first it's like yo can you park in the servant leader parking lot can you dig um you got a name tag on can you dig uh did you check in can you dig did you you know what scheduling day day can you dig like you could use this a little bit can you dig do you agree are you with me amen for goodness sakes can you dig are you are you on board with it um i keep kind of hearing at times people sort of use this phrase like yo vu's back we're back and i know what we mean but i also think there's a danger in saying that the danger being is that is that we're not back we've started something new this whole place of south miami is not back uh we had a pandemic we didn't meet for almost a year people are scattered all over the place even though you worked fearlessly and tirelessly to keep people gathered and to keep investing into people's lives but people have scattered we don't know where some people are some people have moved some people had to go some people have given up on god given up on the church and we are scattered that's the reason why the scripture talks about do not forsake the gathering of the saints because you gather to go intentionally be scattered if you don't gather you find yourself by default and unintentionally being scattered but we had almost no year of meeting and now we're back to meeting but we didn't start meeting in a place for five years that we met in continually we decided to move the church 30 minutes away to a new city we're not back we've started something brand new and there will come a day that we get back we're hoping for i tech or for jdd to open up but but we're not back yet we we've literally started something new and one of the dangers in life is that you need to have benchmarks you need to compare things you need to make sure that you know what you're measuring but it's a really dangerous thing when you're comparing things that are not the same how many you can't compare apples to oranges they're different and what was for the last five years is not what is today and the danger that we find ourselves in is to compare right now today to what we saw yesterday we don't have what we had yesterday we have something brand new we need fresh vision we need new leaders who lean in can you dig it's important that that we see this and i was reading this past week this is like my fifth sermon of the week monday night we had some of our pastors in our house and we anointed our pastors with oil and we had just almost two and a half hours of prayer together it was beautiful thursday i was with vu college we're having a pre-record right now because we don't have the internet right in this place and so we actually if you don't know have church every wednesday night with about 30 people which is hilarious and so i already know tomorrow's gonna be good because it was good on wednesday uh but um just in my own study i came across genesis 26 and i just felt like it was a fitting word i'm already i've already wasted my time so hilarious i'm the worst preacher after all these years okay um i just want to give you three thoughts from this idea of candy this is the story in genesis chapter 26 of isaac we're singing that song about a generational god may his favor be upon you from your to your children to your children's children this is the god that we serve we serve the god of generations i don't know if you've ever read before but like we saw the god of abraham isaac and jacob just a little bit of bible knowledge that god is the one who first made a covenant with abraham that abraham is the father of a nation it's the jewish people it's the hebrew people you and i because of jesus are grafted into all those same promises and all of that inheritance but those promises were being passed down that it started with abraham and then isaac and then his son jacob and abraham was this man who did incredible things i could tell you a story another time he was prosperous he grew he was faithful but then comes his son isaac and isaac as we pick up his story in genesis chapter 26 there has been some challenges that have taken place that he is living in philistine territory meaning he's not living in his own land but he's living in the enemy's land and the scripture actually says here in genesis chapter 26 verse one i don't have it on the screen but i just want you to see it if you do have a bible it says now there was a famine in the land famine we know in this context is literally like there's there's there's no food there's there's a drought most likely taking place there's a lack but how many know that in so many places right now today in 2021 that there's famine spiritually for people there's a famine i believe in the the american church as you look to the left and to the right that there's a drought for so many people where is the spiritual activity where is the life but the scripture says starting in verse 12 that isaac planted crops in the land watch this and in that same year reaped a hundred fold because the lord blessed him the man became rich and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy he had so many flocks and he had herds and he had servants i mean if you just read that verse in verse 12 the man became rich he had wealth and he was he was very wealthy another translation talks about prosperity uses the word prosperity like two or three times anybody out there come on this is this is a safe place you're allowed to you're allowed to be safe in here anyone want to prosper in your life okay just i want to make sure i mean like i understand no matter what happens you're gonna serve jesus and it's not about that but it's all about but can we just anyone out there like me you'd like to if you could you like to prosper you like to grow you like to have more you like to see god i need a little bit more faith out of you come on like like if i get to choose poverty or prosperity i'm choosing prosperity okay just just in case you're wondering you know like we don't have a poverty gospel message here we're not saying go out and have nothing and be nothing that's not the messaging here the messaging is a generosity gospel that we've been given so that we can give here's what's important for us to see right now is that even in famine isaac he flourishes and he grows and the first thing that i just want you to write down today just three thoughts on this idea can you dig is number one is this simple concept that that leaders sow in all seasons leaders so in all seasons the only thing that i can see in this text that made isaac grow is that he planted crops even in a famine even in a drought in fact good leaders know that even when there's a famine taking place oftentimes it's in a famine that that's the best time that you sow that's the best time that you lean in that's the best time you put some seed in the ground you're called to sow you're called to grow that no matter what the environment around us looks like it does not prevent us or stop us from sowing from leading from growing i don't care what the world is doing i don't care what the rest of the churches are doing i'm showing up on a saturday no matter who else shows up saying i'ma sow my life i'm gonna give my life and i'm gonna sow it until i see it and some of us need to be reminded today that even when it looks bad all around us i love i love our team we're so blessed to have such great leaders that articulate principles and truths in such a powerful way but yo if you're smart if you're listening to things that dakota and agent are saying it would be very very easy if you didn't have a leadership mindset to be deflated to be discouraged because what you're looking at is you're looking at numbers that don't look like one year ago today but what we remind ourselves is that we are chosen by god and that god is up to something and what we're gonna do is we're gonna control what we can control so we can sow and we can plant and we can give and we're gonna leave the outcome up to god that if i'll sow it i believe in time god's gonna show out i don't know what you walked in here with today but like this is not our this is not we're back this is something brand new so so welcome to the team welcome to to the new yeah some of you like you heard the stories of vu in the past i wish i could have been a part of it you get to we've never done this i'm more excited today than i was five years ago five years ago we had nothing now we're looking at two properties that we own we got a staff of stallions that actually understand what it takes we got a worship album coming out we got some people that really love jesus we got some people who've been through some famines and pandemics and are still standing i'm telling you we got more than we've ever had before we ought to be sowing something i'm a sow i'm a sow people look at our church right now and go how did all this stuff take place because we can tell you about the things that are going bad but if i started telling you the stories of our friends and the church around america it would make you cry what people have lost we have gained far more than what we have lost you said has happened i think it's because we've had a conviction from day one to so i'm not talking about an offering but we could we could apply it there ten percent of every dollar that's ever been given to this place has always been given out this past week we got a phone call from people friends of ours in india they were in a hospital if some of you have been watching the news of what took place with covid in india without even having to like have a meeting in the committee thirty thousand dollars was sent on your behalf to calcutta india to a hospital to say we want to be a part of it it's called sowing in the midst of a famine one of the great dangers in this room is that many of us the scripture says delight yourself in the lord he will give you the desires of your heart and many of you you prayed for community like this you prayed for a church like this you prayed for a home like this you prayed for friends like this you prayed for an atmosphere like this you prayed to be empowered you prayed to be used what happens is is we get that desire then sometimes on the journey we go i got what i came for and we stop thinking about all the other people that are still looking for it i got my crew i don't need a leader crew anymore because i do life with them what an awful way to look at the blessing of god in your life that's what your blessings that's all you got then better way to look at his man this crew that i had four years ago three years ago two years ago it changed my life and because it changed my life i'm gonna now be in a position that even when i'm tired and even when i'm fatigued i'm still gonna sew i'ma show up because i'm gonna create a crew for somebody else to reap the same blessing that i got i'm a conduit come on can you dig can you dig can you dig good leaders they sow in all seasons i want to make the point just so in famine i'm like because that's really what i want to say but like just in all seasons good times bad times hard times i'm sowing i'm sowing i'm giving i'm showing up i'm doing my part trusting god will play his part what happens though as we read the text is that he becomes very wealthy and flourishes and grows and it becomes amazing look at this he had so many flocks verse 14 and herds and servants that the philistines watched this i circled into my bible this week they envied him so all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of the father of abraham meaning what abraham had done abraham had dug up these wells a well is the source of life it's where you get water it's where people would congregate around it was the economic honesty stimulator of the entire community village city they envied him so the philistines they they covered up all of these wells so all the wells that his father servants had dug in the time of his father abraham the philistines stopped them up filling them with earth then abimelech that was the king of the philistines said to isaac move away from us you have become too powerful for us i just want you to see this this is important in the season that we're stepping brand new thing that we're stepping into number two write this down leaders leaders expectation accounts for rejection leaders expectation accounts for rejection so i'm expecting god to do great things i'm expecting god to do awesome things i'm expecting for success i'm expecting for fruit i'm expecting for us to find water i'm expecting for the provision to show up i'm expecting for life today i'm expecting for salvation this week i'm expecting for miracles this week i'm expecting for workers to show up i'm expecting for uncommon miracles and answers to prayer i'm expecting all of those things but as a leader i also account for the fact that i'm going to expect obstacles and i'm going to expect pain and i'm going to expect betrayal and i'm going to expect rejection and i'm going to expect jealousy and i'm going to expect that there are going to be people that do not like what we are doing this is a family meeting so it's always good to talk this way if you're going to be a part of this team and if you're going to be a part of this house for this season or for the seasons to come you must expect that you signing up to serve here that there are going to be people even good people that you love even christian people that have really great doctrine even good christian people that know all the verses about the women not preaching and all the verses about not having the tattoos and all the verses even those people are going to say negative things about you and envy you and talk bad about you and challenge you but it shouldn't be a surprise to you you should already know from the beginning that i've accounted for this type of rejection isaac's flourishing in the midst of a famine and guess what they don't like it they don't like it you ask anybody who sat in the apartments with us years and years ago as we sat in a little apartment room i would say it over and over again when there was nothing in the bank account that this church will never ever ever lack for the resources to fulfill the vision god has given us i can't explain all of it i don't know why it's all happened i don't understand the favor of god on this house but i know this favor is not fair and i'm a walk in it and we're going to be who god's called us to be and every step of the journey there have always been people chirping and talking and angry and upset but it's not going to stop us jesus said do not be surprised when people hate you because of me [Music] i know they say stuff about us i know they say something about you sometimes people coming back yo pastor rich they were saying something bad about you but i defended you you know cool i hear you but at 37 years of age with two little babies and another girl on the way i gotta be honest i like me i i know me like i'm good i've actually had a place in my life that i'm expecting at times that we will face rejection what i'm saying is is we start taking new territory in south miami i don't know what all the rejection is going to look like i know that this past week it's a long story but we were able to secure this other field over here it's just another miracle there's just too many we could sit here all day if i told you the last four months of miracles in this house but we secured the additional three acres that we truly are the owner of all seven acres right here at the south miami location [Applause] [Music] it's amazing it's amazing [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's amazing it's amazing here's i'm not making any announcements today so don't tweet it and don't share it family medium i know that this room's way too small way too small [Music] what are you saying rich i'm just saying we have a chance now with seven acres to to do something the city's never seen we have an opportunity to build something for god that long after you leave this earth can still stand as a beacon of light in the heart of south miami that the world can look on and say how did it happen and what i'm already accounting for as we start to cast that type of vision is there will be obstacles there will be rejection it's not going to be surprising when we find out the whole city doesn't want a new church it shouldn't be surprising to you either we should account for it they they they threw earth back in the well and that's something they took dirt and they threw dirt in the well and they filled in the well they threw dirt in the well and they filled in the well and some of you i want to make sure that you understand that as a leader whatever it is that god's called you to do your business your home your family your marriage your life your church there will be seasons where you feel like dirt is being thrown on you may i encourage you every time dirt is thrown on you just shake it off just just shake it off and then as you shake it off the dirt falls to the side and you step up and as they throw more dirt on you you just shake it off and you step up and over time you're gonna discover the thing that was being thrown at you in a negative way god was using it as a platform to elevate you and to take you higher you're standing taller you're standing bigger you've grown further you've gone faster that which the enemy meant to hurt you and kill you god used it to make us stronger but we got to have that type of heart thick skin and soft hearts i i i have an expectation that there will be rejection and you as a leader as well i mean it's going to be hard to build a team it's going to be hard to get people to follow it's going to be hard to get people excited about church i was talking to our staff just two weeks ago i was like i just want to make sure that we understand we don't talk a lot like this but we have to understand that what we're doing right now is kind of impossible work like even this right now whatever you're feeling in this room this is crazy we're in miami there is a beach that's free to go to but for some reason you left your home and your family and you're sitting in a church that you will come to many of you two times tomorrow to hear the same guy open up a book and shout at you and challenge you it's because the spirit of god is working and you've decided i'm not called to hard stuff i'm called to impossible stuff and when it gets so difficult i don't know how i will make it i shake it off and i step back up you're cut from a different claw you're not like your friends you're not like everybody else you are leaders and the crowds will come tomorrow but the crowds will have no idea the price that was paid by about 200 men and women on a saturday to come in and say i'mma keep on digging can you dig can you dig so leaders that they sow in all seniors leaders they expect and they calculate and they account for the fact that there's rejection i don't know what that looks like it's just different for all of us in different seasons my preaching is not like oh prove the haters wrong my my preaching's always like forgive the haters that's what jesus has done to us but my preaching is to challenge you that you should expect for it to be hard in fact you should change your language he doesn't call you too hard stuff he calls you to impossible stuff so if it feels impossible wow maybe you're leaving for god now let me close see how the piano is already there it's good verse 16 then abimelech said to isaac move away from us you have become too powerful for us verse 17 so isaac moved away you already see where i'm going isaac moved away from there and encamped in the valley of gerar and settled there isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father abraham which the philistines had stopped up after abraham had died and gave them the same names his father had given them verse 19 isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water another translation says they discovered a well of running water but the herdsmen of garrar quarreled with isaac's herdsmen and said the water is ours so they named the well essec because they disputed with him then they dug another well someone say another well but they quarreled over that also so he named it sitna he moved on from there and dug another well someone say another well and no one quarreled over it he named it raboa saying now the lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land can you dig leaders can relocate and leaders can re-dig not preaching this tomorrow to the church and preaching this to you leaders can relocate and leaders can re-dig it's called the pivot you know michael jordan was maybe i don't want to say maybe for me i'm born in 84. i think he's the greatest player of all time don't don't at me don't write me just chill but he was known obviously in the early this game just to dunk on everybody but as he got older he recognized i'm getting older i can't jump like i used to jump so he had to shift his game up and when he started to work on was his jump shot that's why the second part of his career he was known for his shooting and he began to set new stats and new records because he understood the idea that i have to relocate and re-dig something out of this moment [Music] leaders can relocate and leaders can re-dig and what started in wynwood and what happened in little haiti what began in my apartment and what's happening at the miami rescue mission i believe those are all territories that we will have locations in that we will build in but as i just read this there's just something about the perseverance of a leader there's just something about the idea that i will dig another well that when that one is dried up i will go back and i will remember that my god is the god of generations that what began yesterday he's gonna carry it out today if i will dig and if i will be willing to believe that even as i relocate some of you today i just want to encourage you in your life maybe you're relocated to a new job maybe you've been relocated to a new crew maybe you've been relocated to a new home relocated to a new space maybe there's things in your life that feel like are being relocated i want to encourage you it's time to re-dig it's time for you to dig up that which god had begun long in the past and i don't know but i just can i just give us a word of warning and can it just stay here with us for a moment we are standing in a building that was built decades ago to build a building takes faith it takes resources it takes sacrifice buildings don't just show up it's not like ah like even this idea since the day we started always like rich we need a building i never thought we really needed a building into the last couple years because i always thought what we needed is was a people we needed a people that understood what sacrifice looks like we need a people that could steward the blessing of god that's what we need so when i look at this building i don't even know the people that built it all i know is that they had something inside of them it wasn't some rich benefactor that came and just developed the land and did it all by himself it was a group of people that said there should be a church right here but somewhere on that journey somewhere on that journey the water of this well earth began to fill into it somewhere on that journey that which was life-giving in many ways began to be slowed down i just want us to recognize that the church is not a building church is a people in four weeks of being here with a living people life to an old building has been revived and i'm excited about that but i want to use the moment as a warning to our team there's a scripture in judges that says that a whole generation grew up and did not know god a whole generation grew up and did not know god why because you're always one generation away from not passing on this truth you're always one generation away from your church to stop being a movement and become a monument just so we're all clear if you're on this journey with me i don't care what the size of the audience is but if you're gonna do life under this leadership and in this place i am not looking to build a monument i'm not looking to construct old church buildings that look great in man's eyes i am looking for a people that would say every place that we go that appears to be dried up i don't care where god puts us we're gonna get down in the dirt and we're gonna dig something out there's nothing too big and there's nothing too small we're willing to dig up the dirt that's preventing us from seeing a flow and a movement of god [Applause] isaac re-dug his father's wells re-dug the whales i don't know what this well used to look like i don't know all the stories and the miracles of the past i just know we're here today right now and we're gonna dig and we're gonna dig and we're gonna dig and when god opens up another opportunity right now we need another service in the morning we just need some people that will dig with us as soon as that a building opens up for us in the city we ought to be there we ought to go we just need some people that will dig [Music] because wherever he puts our foot and wherever he places us we're gonna grab a shovel we don't need a microphone we need shovels [Applause] we don't need titles we need some people who have a story that yo this place changed my life and because it changed my life i'm now living my life to give somebody else that same opportunity that i got i'm here to dig bro i'm here to dig and as we dig it up the well begins to produce life not for one generation but for generations to come i wish we could meet the people that built this building i wish we could shake their hand and say hey i want to let you know that your dream is not dead and i want to let you know that the well that you dug years and years ago oh there is a spring of life flowing through it right now and there is no telling the stories that will come about as you chose to dig in your season as you chose to say i'm going to do something for god in my hour and my moment i'm not going to live for me but rather i'mma live for him and for his people because generations will be blessed could you fast forward to john chapter four supposed to give a leadership thought and now i'm just going to preach it like i feel it the pharisees heard that jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than john although in fact it was not jesus who baptized but his disciples and when the lord learned of this he left judea and went back once more to galilee now verse four now he had gone through samaria so he came to a town in samaria called cinecar near the plot of ground jacob had given to his son joseph and jacob's well was there and jesus tired as he was from the journey set down by the well it was about the sixth hour when a samaritan woman came to jesus to drink water jesus said to her will you give me something to drink the samaritan woman said to him you are a jew and i am a samaritan woman how can you ask me for a drink and jesus answered her if you knew the gift of god and who it was who asked you for a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water sir the woman said you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep where can you get this living water are you greater than our father jacob who gave us the well and drank from it himself as did the suns and his flocks in the herds jesus answered everyone who drinks the water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks the water i give them will never thirst indeed the water i give them will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life oh i just want you to see that that thing that isaac read dug it was passed on to his son jacob and then jacob kept the wells open and he passed it on to joseph come generation after generation some woman a sinful woman named the samaritan woman shows up to jacob's well and as she shows up to the well to get something to drink she encounters a living god his name is jesus and he said i've come to give you living water that once you drink of it you will never thirst again i wonder if there's some leaders in the house who would say i can dig it man i can dig it man i believe there's living water come on for generations to come come on [Music]

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Length: 31min 12sec (1872 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 24 2021