Just Keep Dipping — Rich Wilkerson Jr.

turn with me to the book of second kings second kings chapter five it is baptism sunday here at vu church and so far today uh over 40 people have already been water baptized can we just thank god for what he's doing in our midst and baptism sunday at vu church is is a special day because uh it's a day that many people go public with their faith sometimes for the first time baptism is not required for salvation but baptism is a sign of salvation it's letting people know i made a decision to follow jesus and i'm going to boldly confess this and we think it's symbolic uh going under the waters i've died with christ coming out of the waters i've been resurrected with christ but we also think it's quite spiritual you'll see in the book of acts that many times after they were water baptized that the spirit of god the holy spirit came upon them in fact jesus in his own baptism the heavens opened up and a dove in the form of the holy spirit came and and the voice from heaven the father said this is my son whom i love and i'm well pleased i can't explain it but there's something very spiritual and very supernatural that takes place at the point of baptism and today a lot of people came in prepared but the group that i'm even more excited about as i preach the next 35 minutes or so there's some people that did not schedule baptism on their calendar but just because you didn't schedule it doesn't mean that god hasn't already appointed it some people came in dry today but how many got faith they're going to leave wet with a boldness to say i'll never be the same i'll never be the same it's going to happen at the end of this service today but before we do how many how many out there you're ready for the word of god come on we need a little bit more help how many are you ready for the word of god [Applause] second kings chapter five the last few weeks i have been drawing our attention to the old testament even in the old testament you can find the gospel message you can see traces and outlines of our savior jesus and here today we have the story of a man by the name of naaman second kings chapter five can you handle 14 verses i think you can let's let god's word be established in the house now naaman was a commander of the army of the king of aram now he was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded because through him the lord had given victory to aaron he was a valiant soldier but he had leprosy i mean now all of us have a butt pun intended but we all have something in our life that's but i got this but i have that now bands from arum had gone out and taken captive a young girl from israel and she served naaman's wife she said to her mistress if only my master would see the prophet who was in samaria he would cure him of his leprosy now naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from israel had said by all means go the king of aaron replied and i'll send a letter to the king of israel so naaman left taken with him 10 talents of silver 6 000 shekels of gold 10 sets of clothing it's funny how we think we can buy our healing we think we can buy our salvation that's not how grace works that's not how the gospel works verse six the letter that he took to the king of israel read with this letter i'm sending my servant naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy watch what happens in verse seven the king of israel read the letter he tore his robes and said am i god can i kill and bring back to life why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy see how he's trying to pick a quarrel with me when elisha the man of god heard that the king of israel had torn his robes he sent him this message why have you torn your robes have this man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in israel i mean that's like that's my christian trash talk right there so naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of elisha's house elisha sent a messenger to say to him go wash yourself seven times everyone say seven times go wash yourself seven times in the jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed but naaman went away angry and said i thought that he would surely come out to me stand and call on the name of the lord his god wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy are not abana and far apart the rivers of damascus better than any of the waters of israel couldn't i just wash in them and be cleansed so he turned away and went off in a rage naaman's servants went to him and said my father if the prophet had told you to do some great thing some spectacular thing some alluring thing would you not have done it how much more than when he tells you wash and be cleansed verse 14 so everyone say so so he went down and dipped himself in the jordan seven times as the man of god had told him and his flesh was restored and became clean watch this like that of a young boy you ever see that um that old christian movie finding nemo there's this little scene i've watched every disney movie you can imagine 28 times with three kids this little scene where they say to nemo just keep swimming just keep swimming just keep swimming i thought i would take a little bit of a bar from finding nemo i thought i would i would rewrite a little bit i want to preach the next few minutes from the subject just keep dipping just keep dipping come on how many out there believe you've got some faith in your soul that god's going to speak to you god's going to move in your life just keep dipping uh i remember when i was in bible college i had come home to visit my family for the holidays and i was i was getting ready to go back i was went to school in cleveland tennessee not cleveland ohio that's way too big city for cleveland tennessee but i was getting ready to say goodbye to my family and the tradition in our house is that we would do these things called a holy huddle before someone leaves and that is we would be in a huddle position and then we would pray for the person who's going on a journey and so in this case my grandmother was there my parents were there my brothers were there and we started praying and and uh i think my dad was praying he was really praying heaven down my dad he'll start praying and you know he says all the names of jesus um he's praying traveling mercies and and somewhere in in the prayer my grandmother she broke formation which is which is odd um she broke formation and she she walked over to me and while we were praying i was really focused on the prayer my grandmother she slipped her hand into my pocket now it's peculiar because i don't normally let just people put their hands in my pocket but nana's like 92 so she can really put her hands in any pocket she wants to and so she put something put her hand in my pocket but i noticed that she left something in my pocket now this has probably never happened to you because you're very very spiritual but sometimes even when someone's praying my mind can wander sometimes someone can you ever met the guy who just prays really long every time it's just like i just want to eat bro like when is it going to be over and so um my dad's still praying you know he's in the book of you know song of solomon calling out lily of the valley rose the sharon i mean he's he's deep and i'm going i'm going what's in my pocket i know it's not spiritual but i want to confess that i do this what did my grandmother leave in my pocket and so finally the prayer finishes and we're all saying goodbye and i slipped my hand in my pocket and i discovered that my grandmother has placed not one of those old like crinkly ones but one of the ones that like she had just been to the bank or something a brand new crisp someone say crisp a crisp 100 bill i i know i was like this is the year the lord's favor okay i i did like jericho march i looked for shafar i was like this is the will of the lord for my life and thank you thank you grandmother and um i was holding it like because how many know like as a college student you can eat for like the next three years with a hundred dollars and so i'm like this is this really feels like the lord's will for me thank you so much and i i kiss my grandmother you know god bless you and go with you that you know you're amazing and i love you so much and please send more money and um and so i said goodbye i went to the airport i flew and um i landed in atlanta georgia because it was a little bit of a road trip to there's no airport in cleveland tennessee so it's about an hour and a half drive and so you always had to convince a friend you know to make a road trip just to pick it from the airport and i came out to the curb and i'm waiting on the curb and it's sort of a silly story but i'm telling you it is it is shaped a big part of my faith journey because i'm staying on the curb and i'm i'm still like god is so good all the time and all the time god is good this is i got a hundred dollars you know i'm like thank you lord and as i'm standing there there's like this car um it pulls up and it's like uh i don't know how to be nice about it it's just it's beat up bro like it just looked like if the car was a picture of salvation it's the depravity of man okay it's just oh it's it's backfiring and this this little grandmother she pulls up to me right in front of me and i'm telling you like right when she pulls up it's like the car sort of breathes its last breath it's just like like it dies in front of me i'm like oh you know and this poor woman she she tries to turn the key over and it's like it won't start and you know i'm sitting there i'm like oh man you know poor old woman somebody ought to help her you know and i don't know what it was but but but i heard this voice speak rich go and give that hundred dollars to her so that she can get a tow truck and get and get her get her car fixed and um i respond to that voice you know get thee behind me satan um why would god want me to help that's not god that's weird i know none of you have done this but have you ever done this before like god speaks to you and you don't want to do it and so what do you do like you you literally think that you can like put distance between you and the word of the lord you're like so i i i walked away from the scene i was like yeah i bet over here you can't he can't get me this is like this is like jonah okay like i'm i'm getting away but god is no respecter of space the voice comes back again rich go give that hundred dollars to that woman i was like nah there's no way there's no way the lord wants me to do this act of benevolence there's no way third time i hear the spirit say rich go over there and give the woman 100 i i i finally go fine i'm just being honest you ever do something for god that you don't want to do and you do it with like an angry attitude you're like okay out of all the people you want to use me okay and so i walk over i'm not even happy to do this i'm not i there's no joy i'm angry this is mine walking over and i'm just i'm angry about it i approach the vehicle and i get the vehicle's true story i say hey ma'am how are you um my name's rich and i'm a christian and uh i know it's weird sometimes i feel like the lord speaks to me and he just spoke to me and anyways i'm looking at your situation here your car's pretty beat up and it looks like you're in need of help and so hey i want to give you this hundred dollars be blessed and go with god like i think i'm doing something so grand and so great i'll never hear this woman she goes oh son she goes i'm a christian too to which i was like no way there's more of us out there i didn't know nice to meet you how are you god bless you and she says rich she goes um she goes actually i don't need your money i said ma'am yes you do she goes she goes no no no i promise you i've got plenty of money i'm fine i'm totally okay i said ma'am listen to me god just told me to give you this money you're gonna take this money she's like no son i'm not i don't i don't need the money i said yes you need i'm arguing with this woman i'm getting angry now at the woman first i was angry god now i'm angry at the person i'm trying to serve like you're gonna take this freaking money because god told me to give it to you she goes son i'm not taking your money i was like certain like honestly on my walk over that at any moment as i was doing this wonderful act for god that the heavens were going to open up trumpets were going to blast there was going to be like angel like gabriel i don't know michael show up blonde hair [Music] rich just obeyed yay but none of that happened no instead i walked away with my hundred dollars i was like hey god i kind of missed it on that one what was that all about that was weird it's a funny story but i'm telling you once again it has shaped my spiritual journey in more ways than i could ever explain because i heard the holy spirit speak to me in that moment he said rich i was just wondering if you would obey me even if you didn't get the outcome you wanted [Applause] [Music] [Applause] mother teresa said god has not called me to be successful he's called me to be faithful i want to remind our church today that your job is always simply obedience god's job is outcome i can't do the healing i can't do the saving i can't do the delivery i can't do the breakthrough all i can do is obey jesus said come follow me i'll make you fishers of men. he didn't say he'll make us catchers of men meaning our job is to fish his job is to catch in other words all we're supposed to do on this faith journey is keep on believing keep on trusting keep on dipping and dipping and dipping and dipping i wonder is there anybody in this house today that would say that's the word of the lord for me i'm gonna keep on obeying god regardless if i get the outcome i'm looking for the story of naaman in the old testament is a powerful story of this word obedience and obedience is still this thing that pleases god obedience is better than sacrifice is what the bible says i know it's not popular preaching in 2021 but there's two things that still please god faith and obedience and obedience doesn't always turn out and create a scenario or a circumstance that makes sense in the natural sometimes obedience it looks like a failure at first but if you'll keep on dipping if you'll keep on swimming if you'll keep on trusting if you'll keep on believing in due time god is telling a story that he's inviting you to be a part of obedience is my job outcome is god's job i i want to walk through these 14 verses for a moment and i just have three basic points to challenge our church today from this idea of keep on dipping and there's three observations that i see in the text i think is very important that we in this room understand if we're going to continue to obey god regardless of the outcome we need to look at this text and we need to discover these observations and apply them to our life the first observation that i make is that earthly positions do not produce heavenly power this is an important message especially for a church that's so full of 20-somethings and 30-somethings and people that are stepping into their future we live in a world right now that we get so focused on the position we have in life the apostle paul said do not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind many times our problem is that we've got the wrong thought patterns we've got the wrong perspective we have the wrong lens we can be in church but just because i'm in church doesn't always mean that i'm in christ and if i'm not in christ i won't take on the lens of christ the lens of the world is is position chooses and dictates your power and it dictates your purpose what the lens of the kingdom of god is is that no matter what my position in life is i always have a purpose from god because as we study this story what you find out is there's all these different positions the first position is this guy named naaman everyone's saying naaman i'm gonna teach you a bible story today i'm going back to old school kids church i'm i'm a kid's pastor today i'm about to act i should act it out i used to act it out i'ma act out the story of naaman naaman is this powerful guy in the world of that time he's a commander and he's a commander really in the assyrian army and he's influential he's got wealth he has money by all means he has a great position on earth but he has a big problem that he can't solve the scripture says that he's this accomplished commander but everyone say but but he has leprosy leprosy is a disease where honestly it's a slow death where your limbs begin to fall off and your skin begins to deteriorate it was an awful disease so he has all of this stuff but he does not have the power to cure his leprosy naaman is a picture of somebody who has everything that they want but not what they need and even here today as we look at the scripture this is really a picture of salvation that leprosy is really a disease of the flesh and that is what sin is it's it's a disease of our flesh that that we're dying from the inside out we can have all of the trappings of this world you can have all of the titles and all of the position but as you lay your head down on your pillow at night you're still plagued with the biggest questions why am i here how come i don't have a sense of purpose why am i still depressed why am i still hurting i'll tell you why it's because you can buy a bed but you can't buy rest may we as the body of christ not fall victim to the thought pattern of the world because right there in the story naaman's got a problem that he can't solve but in his house there is a slave girl from israel she was captured from her homeland and now she's serving in the house of naaman and when she hears naaman's problem it's like she's been there all the time but now she has a solution to the problem she says if my master would just go to the prophet in israel his leprosy could be cured i like it because it's a juxtaposition it is a contrast you have this powerful man on earth but he's got this position that you would think should solve his problems but there's some problems that your position can't change then you've got this little girl who's got this awful position she's a slave yet somehow she has tapped in to a deeper power she has tapped in to a supernatural power she has the answer she has the keys she has the solution to naaman's problem i want to remind some people in this room today you don't need to live life depressed and discontented because you don't like your job description if you are in christ jesus just look to this little girl this little girl doesn't have a big earthly position but she still has heavenly power why because she understands that i'm in this position right now for this season for this moment i can't tell you how many people i talk to week to week that know jesus love jesus but they are walking in a depression they are walking discontented why because their current assignment is not the assignment that they always thought they would have they don't like their position in life and the enemy would love to rob and steal your purpose all based upon a position god is no respecter of positions god does not need your title to tell his story if you could get a revelation today that wherever you're at mountaintop valley in the palace or in the pit whether i'm a commander or if even i'm a slave i can live my life on mission ready to give people the good news that god has placed me here for a reason what if god has you where you're at for a reason something tells me you'd wake up tomorrow different something tells me that you wouldn't just live for friday you wouldn't just live for the weekend but you could even go to that job you could even go back to that story that you don't like you could even go back to that group of people and you could all of a sudden get the revelation that i have a mission i'm waiting for the opportune time to tell them about the god that i serve but it's not just this idea that earthly positions um they don't produce heavenly power what i also see quickly here is that earthly vanity steals a heavenly remedy because because look what happens like like naaman's like oh okay yeah yeah and he gets his king to send a letter to the king of israel it's funny the king of israel he's got a great position but he's afraid because he doesn't know how to solve he has to call upon the prophet who doesn't have a good position but has a purpose and has the power of god so naaman he gets his chariots all loaded up he gets all the gold that he has and he heads out to the prophet of elisha and watch what happens so naaman went with the horses and chariots and stopped at the door of elisha's house and elisha sent a messenger to say to him go wash yourself seven times everyone say seven times go wash yourself seven times in the jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed but naaman went away angry and said i thought that he would surely come out to me stand and call on the name of the lord his god wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy i want you to see this earthly vanity will steal a heavenly remedy naaman makes his way towards elisha but when he gets there elisha doesn't even come out to him once again elisha sends another servant out to name and the servant says go over to the jordan river and dip in it seven times and when you dip in it seven times you will be cleansed but listen to naaman's response the scripture says he becomes angry and he says i thought i thought you ever get caught by your thoughts i thought he would have come out to me i thought he would have stood next to me i thought he would have done something amazing like wave his hand over me over the spot where the leprosy is and it would be gone that's what i thought the scripture says that he goes off in a rage why because it was not what he thought some of you that's what happened in your marriage right you got married and it's like yo this is not what i thought somebody you you signed up for the job whoa whoa whoa there's like this is gonna like take hard work okay this is not what i thought it's not what i thought coming to church it's not what i thought trying to follow jesus we have to be careful that our perspective doesn't become polluted with pride because it's the pride of naaman that's preventing him from the solution and the remedy of god look at what he says he says in verse 12 are not obana and farpar the rivers of damascus better than any of the waters of israel couldn't i wash in them and be cleansed so he turned and went off in a rage you want to know why you keep going off in life it's not because of what's happening around you it's because of what's happening inside of you pride is the root of all anger we're angry because we're self-absorbed we're angry because we're only thinking about ourselves and naaman gets there and goes this is not what i thought i wanted it to be done a different way i'm not going to go dip in that muddy river i have beautiful rivers back in damascus what's happening is that his vanity is robbing him of the remedy of heaven [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] what if god's going to heal you he's just not going to heal you in the way you thought he was going to heal you you know that when jesus did miracles in fact he heals like something like seven different blind people in matthew mark luke and john every time he heals someone that's blind he does it a different way every time what if you're like wait no i heard the story of how you healed the other guy this is not what i thought one time he walks the guy out of the village and his eyesight comes back to him it's a process another guy he puts his hands on one guy one guy shows up and jesus is like hey stand right there spits wow not what i thought i don't really want to be healed i didn't know that i was gonna have to have the saliva of the savior not what i thought not what i thought what if god wants to use you it's just not what you thought what if he's gonna fulfill your dreams he's just not gonna fulfill your dreams in the way you thought he was going to do it what if you are called to ministry full-time just not the way you thought i wonder how many people are going to live in prison to the wrong mindset the mindset of pride that is paralyzing you and keeping you from the solution and the remedy of heaven you don't have to be bound in that problem you got to open up your mind you got to humble yourself to receive what god has for you god whatever you're calling me to do i will do it [Applause] there's people that are watching online you're angry with your problems because you refuse god's solutions this is the day come alive and recognize wait a minute is this your vanity at stealing god's remedy the only way you can receive the remedy of god is through this word humility always that's what he's looking for he's looking for servants that would humble themselves before the lord and what does it say and he will lift you up what if i told you you don't have to promote yourself you don't have to lift yourself up you don't have to market yourself he's really good at lifting people up he's just looking for someone who would humble themselves and say if you want me to go dip in the jordan river i'll go and dip in the jordan river it's amazing right because um when you're riddled with pride you'll start giving yourself your own prescriptions no no no pastor this is a cute message for others thank you it's cute i appreciate it but um this is not what i thought um i know exactly what i'm doing here really name and if you can cure yourself go cue yourself name it if you can heal yourself why haven't you done it yet so he goes off in a rage i wonder how many people are even here today that you're just dealing with anger you're angry at yourself you're angry at everybody else you're angry at god and what does it come down to it comes down to the simple fact that it didn't turn out the way you thought so he goes off but look at this another servant man i want to put this in the heart of our church there's like three key servants in there you don't get their names just their servants watch one of name and servants look at this one of naaman's servants verse 13 went to him and said my father if the prophet had told you to do some great thing i'm gonna put some other words some alluring thing some magical thing some spectacular thing some phenomenal thing would you not have done it how much more than when he tells you wash and be cleansed what is the servant coming to name and with the servant is coming to naaman and he's challenging him he's saying yo you ever noticed that we're all obsessed with the spectacular but we completely overlooked the regular this is a big thing honestly like for many of us even in this room is that like you want god to always show up in some mystical way you want to hear god say take the hundred dollars go to the woman and you want to get there and you want her to say oh my goodness why are you giving me a hundred dollars well because i follow jesus i want to follow jesus then she gets saved then her back gets healed and her kids get healed and all of a sudden a car shows up and it's not just a car it's a bentley and you guys both drive off you start a church and everyone has a revival that's what i want no it's because you're obsessed with the spectacular and you keep overlooking the regular we all want a blessing not sure if i want responsibility i want to be a part of a church that has a revival i just don't want to do anything to see a revival come about and we confuse basic with minor sir which what are you talking about this is important because that's what this servant is saying the servant is coming to him and he's like yo he's just asking you something really basic but you are overlooking it you think it's minor basic and minor don't mean the same thing basic by definition means fundamental there are fundamental things that god asks us to do they're not overly complicated they're not overly spectacular they're called basic but just because it's basic doesn't mean it's small doesn't mean it's trivial doesn't mean that it's insignificant in fact most of the time the thing that appears trivial is actually fundamental [Applause] it's fundamental i can go all throughout the bible and i can show you story after story where guys did incredible acts that were supernatural and powerful but before they saw the supernatural they did something in the natural go to acts 28 that's a fun story paul ends up after a shipwreck the greatest apostle we have ever seen shipwrecked ends up on a shore and they build a fire it's a whole entire story where this fire is crafted out of the fire a viper shows up out of the out of the fire and it bites paul everyone goes he is being judged by god this is a bad man he's surely going to die i love paul he does a little taylor swift he just shakes it off says he shakes the viper off back into the fire and moments later when he doesn't die everybody on the island goes wait a minute you're actually a god because you haven't died then actually paul takes the moment to share the gospel the fire which looked unpleasant the fire which looked to send the thing that was going to attack him and abuse him and hurt him was actually the thing that god was going to use to bring about his message and his truth [Music] but you know what's fascinating to me and maybe you miss it when you read acts 28 what's fascinating to me is paul was the one who went and gathered the wood and the twigs to build the fire said rich i'm not following i'm telling you the great supernatural work of the fire and the viper that's the story no one tells the story about paul soaking wet grabbing firewood that's not the story we tell that's not what we lean into but it's those of us that are children of god that have made a commitment i'm just going to keep on dipping i'm just going to keep on dipping we understand that the big man never refuses the small task because it's not minor it's basic i've been pastoring for over a decade now it is the greatest joy of my life getting to serve god's people and to build his house a lot of things i can do in this life this is the thing i choose to do are you called to it i think so if not i volunteer for it this is what i want to do but i am amazed how i talk to people from all walks of life that claim to follow jesus but they don't do the most basic commands and they want the remedy of heaven but it's their pride that's preventing them from doing basic like basic love one another that's what we're talking about today really i'm looking for keys to you'll never get a breakthrough if you don't understand i love your brother and sister [Applause] it's not minor it's basic how about forgive others your thought about how crazy that is that we who've received forgiveness like if you're a christian like let's just take a moment like in order to appreciate the good news you have to really understand the bad news like it's really really bad news like i wasn't bad i was dead i didn't make a few wrong decisions i was born dead i'm a sinner nothing i could do to save myself but i received this free gift i couldn't pay for it i couldn't earn it my accolades my pedigree my parents nobody could do it for me i had to receive from jesus how on earth can i receive that forgiveness and then withhold that forgiveness from others but you wonder why you live offended why you live jealous why why you're plagued with envy you you wonder why you go through life so full of resentment why do you think in your mind everybody's out to get you because they are rich everyone's out to get me now maybe it's your vanity today maybe you're so self-absorbed that you haven't taken the basic remedy of heaven which is in order to forgive others then you can truly receive the forgiveness you've been looking for you're bound broken it's gotten complicated it's not minor it's basic don't forsake the gathering of the saints we're not here today for a performance we're not here today because our favorite preacher is talking we're not here today because we're hoping the worship team's going to play our favorite song we're here because there's a command that we don't forsake the gathering so we show up come hell or high water if we wake up and the kids don't want to go to church guess what they don't have an opinion my house dad i don't go to church well then you could die okay i won't go to church because i'm not doing that at convenience i'm doing something out of conviction baptism not minor it's basic jesus said repent and be baptized i know but rich i hear what you're saying man but like yo i didn't really come prepared and i got like my favorite shoes on and whatnot yo dawg i'm not ready to do that hey don't let your vanity make you miss out on god's remedy [Music] someone say just keep dippy i gotta close number three basic observation earthly persistence is a part of the heavenly process naaman he thought god was going to do it one way but he's doing it a different way why because god's process is always different from how you think it's going to be the word process insinuates that there's steps that there's layers that it's not just overnight it it truly is over time but naaman he makes a decision second king chapter 5 verse 14 so he went down and dipped himself in the jordan seven times as the man of god had told him he's finally stepping into an act of obedience he's finally recognizing that my position can't save me there might be a power that comes from something greater than my position i gotta let go of my pride i actually gotta go and humble myself and get into the dirty muddy waters of the jordan i know back home i got all those pristine waters but god's called me to do this god's called me to gather twigs god's called me to gather the wood in order for the fire to be built and so i'm just gonna trust him i'm going to trust the process here's my question today will you trust the process before you have proof of the progress because that is the call of being a disciple of jesus i'ma keep dipping i'm gonna keep trusting i want progress but i don't want the process no friends you and i here on earth our persistence it matters i can't all the way explain it but i can show you in scriptures that over and over again we serve a god who is sovereign but he also expects man to be responsible so there's this tension the sovereignty of god and the responsibility of man most of the blessings in my life i did not do anything for them but there are certain things that i have discovered on this journey that because of my persistence because of my desire because of my pursuit i've seen breakthrough i've seen healing i've seen restoration the question is how bad do you want it are you willing to persist here on earth because something happens when i persist in the natural something takes place in the supernatural the woman with the issue of blood she had an issue of blood for 12 years she had gone to doctors she had been everywhere but one day jesus is coming by and she makes a decision i'm going after him and so she pushes back past the crowd she looks silly it's slightly embarrassing but as she finally gets to jesus she simply touches the hem of her of his garment and as she reaches out in faith jesus recognizes that he has been touched and she is instantly healed you tell me if she doesn't reach out does she receive the healing i i know he's sovereign i know he's good i know he has a plan but i also think that we have free will i think he also loves us so much that he gives us a choice and i'm choosing today to pursue to persist to keep on dipping why because spiritual greatness doesn't happen in a day it happens daily it happens daily so naaman says that's it i'll obey the scripture says that he walks his way over the jordan and he makes a decision that day that was for him probably a big one he he decides to step into the muddy river water of the jordan river how many know stepping in is well it's the first step of the process i know there's people here today and every week it happens here at vu this is like your first time ever in a church like this is different this is okay i'm here like what has everything changed is it all different nah it's just part of the process i don't have magic for you i i don't have something spectacular for you i have a call for you that you would live a life of commitment that you would choose even when you can't sense him and even when you can't feel him that you would choose i'm going to trust him i'll trust you jesus so naaman's in the jordan he's like all right i'm going to obey and so he told me to dip seven times he says oh i'm dipping i'm just i'm just going dip i'm just i'm just going dip [Music] [Applause] [Music] and he dips and i don't know what he was thinking but maybe he came out of the water after dipping one time and he's like do i look different is my leprosy gone but his leprosy wasn't gone he he was still the same even though he had dipped i mean anyone can do something one time yeah i'm going to obey i'ma dip a second [Music] time so he dips a second time and he comes out do i look different it's always funny because we come to church right it's like i've been to church two weeks in a row everything should be different yo bro i went to both steps of the growth track i don't really see anything different yet my tithes one time still haven't gotten a spiritual blessing i'm waiting for that finance i'm waiting for checks in the mail waiting for treasures in the backyard where they at now imagine it's obedience all right i'm gonna dip a third time and he dips the third time when he comes out and still there's nothing different you know elisha had said seven times everyone say seven times seven matters you know elisha really liked numbers you can read a few chapters later second kings chapter 13 i believe one of the kings of israel comes to elisha and he's afraid of an enemy that's coming to attack and elisha gives him a basic command take your arrows and strike them on the ground so the king goes and he obeys and he strikes the arrows one two three and he comes back and when he comes back elisha rebukes him and elisha says that was foolish your enemy you will destroy your enemy three more times but because you only struck the ground three times you should have struck the ground five times or six times or seven times had you struck the ground more times your enemy would have been completely destroyed you say rich why are you telling me the story i'm telling the story because we have to have a mindset shift in the body of christ i'm not asking hey what is the bare minimum to get by the new question becomes god i want to give everything that i have i don't just want to strike the ground three times i want to keep on dipping and keep on dipping even if i don't see something turn around [Music] i'm going for [Applause] sometimes you know at four it's like this is awesome bro i've been doing this for a month now bro i went to all four steps i'm ready to be a leader i'm ready for breakthrough but i don't know what it is we all have a different threshold right some of you it's like you've been dipping 70 two times others you it's like you dipped twice like i'm out like we all have this different threshold of pain but it's moments like this that we have to decide what it is that we believe am i in charge of the outcome i am not i can only control my obedience therefore i've been dipping four times but i'm still just gonna keep on dipping i'm gonna go five times i'm gonna keep trusting his word [Applause] [Music] sometimes in life you're trusting god and you're doing all the right stuff you're dipping and you're believing you're trusting but you still don't see growth you still don't see something change i was reading this past week about these bamboo trees in china that they have to be watered every single day for five years straight in fact if you miss one day they say that the bamboo bamboo tree can can die instantly but if you'll just consistently water it they say after five years over a 42 day period that little tree grows to 80 feet tall say rich what's the point of the story the point of the story is that many times we get fatigued and many times we get tired many times we want to give up many times we want to quit but it's in those moments that we don't just have to be persistent because persistence it means you'll get it but it's consistency that ensures that you'll keep it i'm just going to keep on dipping i'm just going to keep on dipping and so we go six times right we dip six times and six feels cool but how many no six is the number of man six is what i can do in my own strength six is my own mindset six is my own perspective six is my own will power but i actually believe what god has for you is gonna require you to step outside of your own willpower and you're gonna actually have to get inspired and motivated by the power of the holy spirit seven is actually the number of completion seven is actually the number of perfection seven is god's number and in the bible we see stories where seven is important one that comes to my mind is when they get to the walls of jericho and they march around these walls six times but on the seventh time they are now commanded to shout and to lift their voice and when they shout and when they lift their voice on the seventh time that's when the walls come crashing down anybody got some faith today that your walls are coming crashing down anybody got a belief today and a supernatural god who can bring down the barriers who can destroy the obstacles who can bring healing to your story this is called faith this is called commitment [Music] knowledge says i know he can do it faith says i know he will do it but i'm talking about something deeper today and that is the word called commitment because commitment says even if he doesn't do it you're going to find me at the jordan just dipping and dipping and dipping that's all i know to do when i don't know what to do i just keep on dipping i'm going a seventh time and when it comes out of seventh time his skin is completely restored come on somebody give god a shout of [Music] praise [Music] [Applause] naaman came out of the jordan dripping just dripping just straight dripping and it looked foolish but he finally discovered that which he was looking for because the scripture says that his skin was restored to that of a young boy it's important that you see that because it wasn't simply a physical healing that naaman was after he was after a spiritual healing and it is a type and a shadow of a picture of salvation that salvation is not just you about getting rid of your earthly ailments and your earthly sickness it's about your heart being transformed the reason why his skin was like that of a young boy is because it was a picture of new birth and this is why jesus says the nicodemus flesh gives birth to flesh but the spirit gives birth to the spirit nicodemus you must be born again and ladies and gentlemen today it doesn't matter what you accomplish it doesn't matter what you get you must be born again in jesus you must come out dripping you must decide today that i want what he has for me and the only way i get it is just to keep on dipping someone say just keep dipping just keep dipping just keep dipping seventh time it was complete seventh time he was restored there's restoration here today might not happen the way you thought in fact the process of heaven is it typically never happens the way you thought but i'm gonna leave the outcome to god and i'm gonna walk in obedience i'm just gonna keep on dipping as you find your seat your heads are bad your eyes are closed i just wonder if you're here today say rich you look ridiculous i know that's the whole point [Music] it's the whole point [Music] god's not impressed with my job description my titles my accomplishments i want his power the power of the gospel the good news you can't steal my identity you you can't steal my purpose i love the assignment that i'm walking in but if my assignment changes my my purpose still remains [Music] i don't want to lose the remedy of heaven because of my vanity because of my pride i want to persist i want to be a part of the process of heaven [Music] so i'm i'm just going to keep dipping when i don't know what to do i just keep dipping keep believing today as you're in this room that's the call for you do you want to surrender your life to jesus do you want to come out of that water with skin like a young boy because you've been born again new life total restoration salvation [Music] how's that happen rich well the scripture says that we believe and we confess naaman thought he could he could buy it you can't buy it [Music] you can't achieve it you just you just receive it there is a god who loves you more than you could ever imagine but it starts with you trusting him [Music] you're repenting and you're turning towards him so that's you today before we go to baptism on the count of three if that's you you say rich i want to surrender my life to jesus would you just be bold and would you lift your hand up high enough and long enough just so i can see it i want to i want to include you in this prayer of salvation hands are going up all over this place someone count to three ready one two three i thought you just lift it up that's me that's me thank you jesus right there at your chair put your hands down can we just all pray this prayer together collectively say dear jesus today i surrender all that i am over to you forgive me lord i give you my past lord i give you my my present i even trust you with my future but i believe you are who you said that you are so today lord i choose to obey you i'm just gonna keep dipping and believing that you are the god who is working it out i love you lord in jesus name everybody said hey man come on church can we go ahead and just give every person a round of applause today there's a little card there on your chair it's called a connect card and if you'll take it and check off i decided to follow jesus when we leave here in a moment there's big white tents drop that card off and someone's going to put a bible in your hand but today is is baptism sunday and it's our tradition and our custom here at view church that when we baptize people we make a call for people to stand up publicly this is something that we see in the scripture that when jesus called people he most of the time almost every time he did so out in public so i'm going to count to three here in a moment if you came prepared or unprepared to be baptized all i want you to do is stand to your feet and as you stand your feet i want you to make your way outside of the auditorium out in the front of our church we've got baptism tanks ready our team is there we got t-shirts for you the church is going to stay back for about a minute or two when you stand up we're gonna celebrate you because we think it's a great decision that you would do this basic command that you would obey god but maybe you're going but rich if i stand up you know people are gonna see me i would say i know that's the whole freaking point there's something about walking away from from where you were to where you want to be that makes a huge difference there's something about understanding yo if i can't boldly confess jesus here how am i ever going to do it when i'm in a foreign territory when i'm in the foreign commander's house how will i ever have the boldness to live life on mission so today is a great day for you to build your faith for the journey that awaits you because there's some dips that you're going to have to take and there's some believing and trusting and this is a great moment that your faith would get strong so i'm a count to three when i get to three whether you're prepared or unprepared i don't have my right outfit that's fine me neither yo is my third time getting wet gonna do it a few more times today let's get wet for jesus let's let's have a testimony friends y'all ready for this one i got faith today come on two come on three [Music] [Applause] come on church celebrate come on can we celebrate them [Music] come on jump up on your feet throw your hands in the air stick it with me come on i only won come on can we thank jesus today for what he's doing in our church

Channel: VOUS Church

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Keywords: vous, vous church, rich wilkerson, rich wilkerson jr, dawnchere wilkerson, miami, church, live stream, worship, church live, live stream church, sermon, miami fl, miami chuch, preaching, the gospel, good news, the message of jesus, jesus, what god wants, what does god want, sermons about god

Id: dy8qpNWvIqA

Length: 56min 24sec (3384 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 11 2021