Little By Little | Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. | Elevation Church

hey listen to this each year we provide the opportunity to give toward the growth of our church this ministry and the kingdom of god through a year-end offering a couple of weeks ago we all joined together to finish 2020 with favor do y'all remember thousands of you brought your best gift and offering of worship for the king of kings committed to tithe for the first time and i think that's absolutely amazing and i want to congratulate you and tell you to expect god to move in a great and supernatural way in your life because of your faith i want to tell you that [Applause] somebody put it in the chat again or say it out loud if you're here he made a way and because of your giving you made a way to uh give away this is not how much we took in in the offering so far and there's still time to participate elevationchurch.org favor but i just felt i felt this it's not too late for favor [Applause] i don't know who this is for it's not too late for favor [Applause] even if you're watching this weeks after i preach it and we're already well into the year 2029 living on mars with elon it's not too late for favor but this is what i wanted to celebrate and i knew you would want to rejoice in the lord and give thanks about uh the the outreach money that we've given away already over one million dollars given not to the church but through the church that's what's going back out come on let's give god a great praise for faithful people who know how to walk in the favor of god we walk by faith not by sight so on behalf of all of the the pregnant mothers through the human coalition that we're helping on behalf of those in kenya haiti in the congo through the medical benevolence foundation on behalf of those in our community that are receiving financial literacy education all of our mothers completing their degree across the country through safe journey and community in schools i wanted to say thank you you're the best church in the world it's an honor to be your pastor holly and i love you did you get everything you wanted for christmas if not put it in the chat and i'll see if i can i'll see if i can work something out that'd be fun everybody if you didn't get what you wanted for christmas put it in the chat and i'm gonna pick one person and send you what you didn't get this week i'm gonna do that put it in the chat but not until you've gone to elevationchurch.org favor and given your tithe in that order who's ready for the word of god [Music] pastor rich wilkerson jr is in the house this is my friend he and his amazing wife don cheri are two of the most brilliant lights for jesus christ burning on the planet today the pastor of the great vu church in miami florida we're honored to know you honored to be friends with you there's no one that we wanted to preach the last sunday in the year but you and trust me this church this church has so many different people that come through but i really prayed about it who should take us out of one year and into the other and the lord said get rich get rich everybody put in the chat get rich and right now you're about to get a merry christmas everybody i brought you an amazing preacher welcome to elevation ministries global evam pastor rich wilkerson oh come on church why don't we go ahead and give jesus come on a big shout of praise [Music] come on anybody thankful that you're still here right now come on and give him praise it is uh so so good to be here i just noticed that they took away the real pulpit and gave me the miniature pulpit but i like this i love this church so very very much and what an honor it is to be here and all of the e-fam we're so glad you're joining us on the last sunday of the year and how many think man it's not always how you start but it's always about how you finish anybody grateful that you're finishing the year in church [Applause] i believe that god's going to speak to us today if you're in the auditorium why don't you maybe do a air fist bump and say you look better than i remember if you're in your living room why don't you just hug that person because you're allowed to grab a seat all over the place grab a bible that's the cutest pulpit i've ever had in my entire life it is uh honestly such an honor such a joy to be in charlotte north carolina at elevation church i just think that this is the greatest church anybody proud and grateful to be a part of elevation church oh come on we can do better than that come on this is a church that's leading all across the world and for my wife and i we just honestly count it as one of the real privileges of our life and of our ministry to get to come and be here and share today and things like this a ministry like this doesn't just happen um it happens because god appoints a man and god appoints a woman and they give them a vision and i just got to say to pastor steven and pastor hawley i don't have the words to articulate just how much your leadership and how much your friendship has meant in our lives for many many years from afar we have watched from a distance and been inspired and quite frankly been so impressed with all that god has done with you but it's been these last few years getting to be up close and personal with you that i haven't just been impressed i have been deeply encouraged and your life it just speaks volume and honestly i've got a message on my heart but more importantly honestly almost more importantly the message is for me to get up on this stage today after the year we just had after the year that so many of us in the body of christ have gone through and i just felt like it was part of my assignment to make sure i took a moment to say thank you thank you for being stable thank you for walking in character thank you for not flinching thank you for having integrity thank you for standing firm thank you for not backing down thank you for continuing to create thank you for continuing to have bold vision come on somebody can we thank god for the man of god and the woman of god and what they have meant for all of us thank you thank you thank you you make it look way too easy because what's happening here is not hard it's impossible and right before i came up on the stage i was reminded that em bounds quote the great scholar he says the church is looking for a method but god is looking for a man and people come from the east and the west north and south to come and see the method of elevation church but guess what you just got to get next to the man and the woman of god and that's where it's happening and i just came to honor you today we give honor where honors do all glory to god but we give honor today to pastor stephen and holly come on one more time in the chat can we just let them know on the last sunday how thankful we are for them i love you i gotta do it i gotta do it my name is rich i come from miami florida i lead a church called vu church really weird name for a church but it's working out okay so far my wife dawn tree she is here with me today we just celebrated 14 years of marriage i love you baby girl and uh our church we launched it five years ago and just so much of what's happening in miami is due to the leadership of this house and so what a joy what a privilege it is to open up god's word and i think this is an important sunday because today wherever you're tuning in from i believe the fact that you're here it says a whole lot about you i know this has been a shaky year this has been an uncertain year but i'm believing that we're going to finish strong today mark chapter 8 is where i want to read from we're going to read a few verses and then you know i had a great christmas i hope you had a great christmas uh but we've had the holidays and i'm just glad to be in church on this sunday this is like one of the few times i've got to preach in front of a live audience so i'm already feeling a little bit more normal my faith is already being built a little bit and so for the next i don't know 30 minutes or so i'm a holler like i got a word in my heart and uh i'm gonna trust god that those of you on the other side of this camera are sensing what we are sensing in this room today mark chapter 8 uh look at me holding this bible i left my bible on the airplane the devil was already trying to mess with me got off the airplane left my preaching bible left my sword on the airplane but praise god for pastor stephen i got a different bible so it's gonna work mark chapter eight here we go i hope this one's anointed here we go mark chapter 8 verse 22 it says this it says they came to bethsaidia and some people brought a blind man and begged jesus to touch him he jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village when he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him jesus asked do you see anything he looked up and said i see people they look like trees walking around watch this verse 25 once more everyone say once more once more jesus put his hands on the man's eyes then his eyes were opened his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly jesus sent him home saying don't go into the village i want to take a few moments today and i want to use this text the last sunday of 2020. we made it i want to preach from this subject little by little little by little and i believe this is going to be a word in your spirit there's going to be a word in your heart today would you just pray with me let's just invite god's presence into this place let's invite god to do what only he can do through this word lord we thank you that you're here we thank you that you're moving we thank you today god for this incredible year that we've walked through while it was at times turbulent lord we believe that we're coming out stronger than how we started i pray now today god that you would have your way in this place that the e fam that's watching lord would sense your presence in a mighty way change us transform us heal us may we never be the same again we love you jesus and in jesus mighty name come on if you agree with that prayer all of god's people said come on all of god's people said come on if you love jesus make a little bit of noise all over this place oh come on you can do better than that give him a big shout [Applause] i grew up in a um in a strong strict christian home in fact i'm four generations pentecostal preacher hey man i like that he he he knows the cue right there amen um and i was just thinking about my childhood um throughout this season it's holiday season and in my home my parents just they had rules for rules right they just it was strict guidelines just strong traditions the fall is full of all these different holidays you know but in our house we would change holidays up or we would have traditions for instance we didn't celebrate halloween it was hallelujah day where's the real saints at harvest fest hello you know what can you dress up we're not goblins or skeletons we're disciples i mean how many disciples can you be you know like how do you differentiate yourself you know i got an ear in my hand i'm peter okay we get it you know like it's just how i grew up thanksgiving we used to these big recitals everyone had to come and perform at the thanksgiving christmas my mom used to have this closet true story in our house that gifts that were given to us that she didn't think that we needed true story she would put them in the gift closet why so that when we had a function the following year that we needed a gift there was always a gift on supply to give pray for me i know my childhood was messed up my first slow dance our god is an awesome god [Applause] i think some of you all parents out there ought to make your kids you know dance to do it again i think i think we need to up the game with the dj my f the dj at the party his name was crazy larry had a red and stimpy tie on he's like all right everybody who's ready for the slow dance our god is an awesome goddy i'm like what is this it's just my childhood and we had traditions and i was just thinking about traditions on the way over here and and one of the traditions my mom had that that i appreciate now is maybe your parents did this too but every year like clockwork my mom used to have this food pantry and she would take us inside the food pantry and on the back side of the door she would line up all of my brothers there's four of us i have an older brother and two younger brothers and every year she would she would line us up on this back of this pantry door and she would measure our height and every year she would take a sharpie marker and she would mark the place of where a height is and throughout the years you know it was fun to kind of come in there because you could you could see your growth from the year before and to be honest with you like most years like there wasn't some big thing to see i think the one year i hit puberty i you know i gained a couple more inches than normal but for the most part if i'm being honest with you the growth was gradual in fact if i'm really being honest as i'm thinking about it unless i was measuring the growth i wouldn't have even known i had grown because the growth was just little by little i i wonder today if this is actually how faith works i i wonder if some of us in this room and those of us that are watching online i wonder if part of our problem especially with 2020 is that when we think about faith we only have one category of words associated with faith supernatural phenomenal suddenly suddenly immediate and i'm not against these words i i like these words but i'm concerned if these are the only words that are associated with your faith what happens is we find ourselves in seasons where we are struggling and the reason why we're struggling is because we only have one picture of what faith looks like and there's people today that are watching on the last sunday of the year and you're struggling in your faith in many cases you're frustrated with god maybe you're disappointed with yourself maybe you're offended with other people why because you've got the wrong measuring stick you say why why do i feel this way many of us the big problem when it comes to our faith if we could just really narrow it down if we could just really simplify it if we could really get to the root problem the problem is it's just all going too slow it's just not happening as fast as i thought it would i thought by now i would have had the promotion i thought by now i wouldn't still be controlled by my schedule i thought by now i would be married hello there's still time in 2020. i thought by now we would have conceived a child i thought by now that i would have had a breakthrough i thought by now i would have been healed i thought by now i would have paid off my bills i thought by now i would be farther than i really actually am oh but friends i wish today that we had a pantry door measuring stick for your faith because something tells me if you could look back throughout the years what you would discover is that mark by mark you have been maturing you have been growing it's just been gradual it's just been little by little i know you're not where you want to be yet but baby you have come a long way come on anybody thankful that you've come a long way on this journey you're growing gradually in fact say that out loud say i'm growing gradually i'm growing gradually it's it's little by little i love the quote by j.r tolkien he's the one who wrote the hobbit and lord of the rings and he says little by little one travels far god speaks to the israelites in deuteronomy and he says little by little you will take the nations don't be surprised when you ask god for miracles if he answers you with gradual change i just think when i look back on this year if i had the pantry door measuring stick it wouldn't be impressive it would just be little by little i'm further than when i started see what i love about god and i just this is just where i feel like we're supposed to end this year what i love about god is not all of god's miracles are immediate some of god's miracles are progressive they don't happen overnight they happen over time what if i told you come on epham i could teach you how to grow i just can't teach you how to grow overnight what if i told you i i could teach you some principles and some keys and some some think steps you could take i just can't teach you how to grow overnight i can teach you how to grow over time and what i love about mark chapter 8 the text that we have today in front of us i just think it's i think it's such a great text for us to end this year on because what you have in mark chapter 8 is you have a story of a miracle in motion you have a progressive miracle you have a gradual game you have a phenomenon in process it's a slow grow sometimes when you grow it feels slow and today i just wanted to walk through the verses and i want to encourage your spirit as you're coming to the end of this year do not miss the praise party why would you want to step into 2020 listen i'm telling you right now if you can get a revelation to praise god in 2020 there's no telling what the praise is gonna be like in 2021 i would step into this year praising god with your spiritual family but before we get there let's just start right here today with mark chapter 8 and let's look at this picture this story of a little by little miracle the scripture says in mark chapter 8 verse 22 it says they came to bethsaidia and some people everyone say some people some people brought a blind man and begged jesus to touch him i just want to stop because i want to give you the context of what's taking place in mark 8. in mark 8 jesus has just finished feeding 4 000 people and now he has got his crew his posse his disciples and they are walking into this village known as bethsaidia and when he gets to bethsavia a group of people come over and they beg jesus they say jesus please can you touch this man who is blind he can't see anything and we believe if you touch him you can heal him what i want to just stop for just for a moment because i just know that there's some faithful people that have been a part of elevation church for many years that have been on the journey for a decade that have been sowing that have been giving that have been praying please understand that god uses people to bring people to jesus i just i just want you to see it it's just it's really simple we don't know their names all we know is some people see if we're all being honest no doubt right god gets the glory he's the one who performs the miracle but what you'll notice throughout the scriptures is the scriptures don't shy away from the fact that he invites you and i in to be a part of the process of the miracle remembrance in first corinthians chapter 3 where paul says i planted seed apollos watered seed but only god makes it grow he's giving god glory but he doesn't stop or negate the simple truth that you and i get to plant you and i get to water and if you're watching i know there's some people that are watching if you just think about it for a moment just consider how many people were a part of you coming to know jesus just none of us can truly say it was just me and god all of us have to say oh man there was that co-worker who kept inviting me there was that friend that said hey why don't you turn your browser on to elevation church and listen to my pastor there was that spouse who was gracious come on there was that book that captured you there was that song that melts you there was that grandmother who never quit praying for you come on anybody thankful out there for a loved one who said i'll stand in the gap i'll keep on praying i will be a part of the some people i wonder today do we want to be a part of the some people [Applause] that's how god moves he finds some people that will say no serving is not beneath me therefore leadership is not beyond me [Applause] it's just about it's just about some people the question comes to all of us and this is the question you have to ask do you care more about titles or testimonies [Applause] because we don't get their names like i could just camp here all day it doesn't say deacon so and so it doesn't say pastor so and so it doesn't say mr misses it just says some people just some people i'm just part of some people i'm just i'm just here to help be a vehicle i'm just here to help people meet jesus talk about this favor offering there's still time to be a part of this offering but please make no mistake about it this money is designated to help accelerate the vision we've got great programs we've got great expansion ideas it's awesome the things that elevation is going to do this is one of those trustworthy places that you can sow a seed this is healthy healthy soil listen seed is cheap soil is expensive find a place that's got some healthy soil take your little and watch how god will turn it in to a lot come on somebody [Applause] this is healthy soil but let's just be real you want to know why we're giving in the favor offering you want to know why we're giving above and beyond at the year end it's not so the budgets can be met it's not so we can turn the lights on it's because we want to see people who are far from god people who are desperate we want to see them encounter the love of jesus christ come on somebody give him praise today i want to be a part of the some people [Applause] god i don't care about a title i just want the end of my life that i wasn't collecting titles i was collecting testimonies i saw god move in my lifetime no you don't know my name but i got a feeling you're gonna know his name i saw god move i saw god meet our needs i saw god heal blinded eyes i collected testimonies you got to decide are you do you want titles or do do you want testimonies do you want testimonies and these people they just they just want to see god move and they they bring this man to jesus and they're like jesus they begged him we don't know their names please touch him now now you can read this and and quickly if you don't just do a little bit of context study you would miss how scandalous this request is jesus at the time is considered a rabbi a jewish rabbi and rabbis they don't go around touching people that are sick or touching blinded eyes why because the paradigm or the theology or the thinking of the day was was that you your ailment or your sickness was a result of your sin and so rabbis couldn't touch something that was considered sinful because that would make them unclean but thank god that jesus is not some regular rabbi thank god that jesus stepped out of divinity and wrapped himself up in humanity and he came to touch the messiest areas of our life he came to touch the broken areas the areas that you have been hiding the areas that you don't want anybody to see or notice he came to take your mess turn it into greatness because whatever he touches he always transforms whatever jesus touches he he he transformed anybody out there thankful that god touched you come on anybody in the chat right now can you just witness and testify he touched me he touched me church is funny to me because right there's things that we say in church sometimes that we don't always think about how hilarious they are you know we have all these cliches and things that we do even right now today i'm doing things that only a subculture of christians would understand you know god is good and all the time let go and you guys know my message you're covered by the blood of the lamb can you like imagine if you're a guest covered but i don't want that i was preaching one time pastor stephen at a conference i'll never forget it and the preacher was good he was he had the group going and they were fired up and some preachers can just say the coolest stuff from the microphone i haven't i haven't learned this yet but he was preaching he was like i don't drop f-bombs i drop j-bombs i'm like what does that even mean we're like nobody knows what it means but it's provocative and it certainly gets the people going [Applause] he goes i don't have an ak-47 i have a john 3 16. he went [Applause] i was like i want to do that so i think it's real good in your living room uh well no it's not a demon it's the holy spirit working [Applause] i'm thankful that god touched me he touched me we started our church five years ago and i remember as we started to grow it started to grow and it was actually quick growth we went from one service to two services to three services to four services to five services at one point we were in six services in a small little auditorium in wynwood 9 a.m 11 a.m 1 p.m 4 p.m 6 p.m 8 p.m i'd preach all six of them i was just ah let's go you know you get done you're like i think i need therapy and we it was it was hard starting the church because you know you're trying to build a culture and trying to get people to lean in and believe and i remember at the time it was really difficult because we were trying to build up the parking lot team and in miami we have what you kind of call um what would you say what would i say it's the weather is uh unpredictable it's not hot it's hot hot um it doesn't rain it rain rains it's all the second power okay and like to this day i've never met only at elevation church where you find someone who's like i am called to park cars for jesus like most people don't that's not their spiritual gift you know they're like you're like nah dog i'm not gonna be on the stage bro you know like not the parking lot and it was these early days and so i was trying to build morale and so i would go out to the parking lot and that's been the first 15 minutes you know let's go do it for jesus you know parking the cars rallying the team let's go guys that i'd run in i'd preach my message then i'd get out to the parking lot they thought it was a magic trick like weren't you just in there i'm like no no i'm just that good you know and parking these cars and i'll never forget one time it made me laugh so hard i'm in the parking lot it's about 15 minutes in the service and i've got a bunch of the guys around me who are parking the cars and this woman drives in and when she drives in she can't believe that i'm out there and so she's way over the distance but she turns her car around and she starts driving it over towards me and she's getting excited i'm getting excited i like people i'm like oh she's excited i'm excited and she just starts praying like she's just testifying she's like oh god it's good she's going off she's praising god and she rolls her window down got a group of people now around me she's like pastor rich oh this is such a miraculous moment meeting you i want to let you know that last weekend you touched me [Laughter] [Applause] what ma'am excuse me lower your voice she wouldn't stop she said oh you touched me oh he touched me oh rich you touched me and finally after the third time i i understood what she meant and i said oh i kind of laughed shut up please um i said ma'am respectfully no i did not but i know who did his name is jesus christ king of kings lord of lords and he's still touching people today is there anybody out there who's thankful that god touched you to transform you that when he found you he didn't leave you in your brokenness he took you on a journey he's still touching people today oh he touched me and jesus they bring this man to jesus and he and he touches the blind man but notice about jesus when jesus touches you he always touches you to take you on a journey he doesn't leave us here it's little by little the scripture says in verse 23 it's just beautiful jesus would you touch this man would you touch this man he's not afraid of your broken area he's not afraid of your hidden area he he touches us and he grabs the man by the hand the scripture says verse 23 he took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village took him outside the village i want you to see this he hasn't healed the man yet please heal him he grabs his hand and walks him outside the village i i don't know what it was about the village i don't know why jesus doesn't do the miracle in the village what i do know is that when it comes to jesus i do know that environment is so very very important and what i do know is that many of us the reason why we can't find ourselves sustaining change is because we continue to live in a toxic environment and i can't say for certain as to why jesus didn't just heal him right there but something in my spirit tells me it's because jesus is sensitive and he's doing something quite significant in the man's life i believe that jesus is taking this man on a journey and the reason why he's taking the man on the journey is because he wants to give him spiritual sight before he gives him physical sight better to be blind walking with jesus than to be able to see and go alone and so jesus graciously mercifully grabs him by the hand and just starts walking with him why because jesus is establishing faith in his life faith is not about physical sight in fact by definition faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see it is impossible to please god without faith we don't walk by sight we walk by faith why do we need faith we do not need faith to simply get an external blessing simply to get our back pain to go away to simply see disease gone i believe in all that stuff if you've got sickness in your body we're gonna pray and plead the blood of jesus over you but please understand it's far more important than that the reason why jesus gives you faith is because you need faith to follow jesus you don't need physical eyesight to follow jesus you're going to need some faith to follow jesus and before jesus gives this man physical sight he says i'm going to give you internal faith i don't know what it is but i have discovered that some of the most deep and intimate things that god has done in my life have not happened with the crowd they have happened in places of solitude please learn today there is a difference between being around god and being alone with god i'm misgathering in person i can't wait for the day that i can get back in that room faith is tangible you ever been in a room before like man there's something in this thing there's something going on in here it's called faith the problem is a lot of people walk into a faith environment and they convince themselves they're on fire for jesus but when they get out into the storms of life they discover they were just sensing the heat from everyone else around them faith comes from solitude solitude is different from isolation isolation leads to loneliness solitude leads to fulfillment i'm not alone when i'm alone with jesus i'm not lonely when it's just me and jesus and to get that kind of faith he has to take me outside of the village i have to get away from the crowd i'm glad that we're gathering today i want to plant a seed of faith in your heart that you will reap as you step into 2021 but please listen to me we do not just need faith on sunday no sir we need faith when our world is falling apart we need faith when our marriage is barely hanging on we need faith when we find out from the doctor it's cancer and there's no answer oh come on somebody is there anybody out there who wants god to establish faith in your life he's he's serving the man faith is not about spiritual superiority it's about spiritual survival i i won't make it without this lesson come on now anyone feel like you got taken out of the village in 2020 it's been nine months since our church has gathered but i wonder i wonder is jesus just getting person one by one and just saying hey your faith is getting deeper i know you feel like you're blind but you're about to see better than you've ever seen before just keep walking you you don't just need faith for healing you need faith to follow and the scripture says in verse 23 watch this it's just kind of when jesus spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him jesus asked do you see anything can we just stop for a moment jesus takes him he still hasn't healed him he's walking outside the village now he's now he's talking to him and the first thing he does is he spits on the man's eyes how bad you want to get healed spit on me lord you know what's fascinating to me about this text is there's seven different accounts of jesus healing blind men in the new testament and every time jesus heals someone who's blind he does it a different way but i wonder i just wonder you know sometimes i read the stories and i just try to put myself into the story i just wonder if this man while he's with jesus i wonder if he's kind of frustrated i wonder if he's like what if he's heard of the other stories where jesus has healed people i wonder if he's going yo like i know we're walking but i'm still not seeing anything i i wonder if he's disappointed because all of the other stories that he's heard about jesus did it quickly but it seems like with him he's doing it slowly [Applause] many of you that are in the chat today you're watching and you're so frustrated because you're looking around left and right and you're comparing your today to somebody else's and you're going but they're growing and they're flourishing i don't know if that's really the case i just wonder if every time you check in on them all you're seeing is the marks on the pantry door that you weren't there for the gradual growth you weren't there for the little by little you're comparing your slow to their fast and it's leaving you in a place that you are discouraged jesus spits on the man's eyes and he asks the man he says do you see anything i think this is a profound question because ultimately this is one of the questions that jesus was constantly and continually trying to get across in his ministry on the earth in fact it's a fun word study like grab your concordance if you've got some time before the new year and look up the word see in matthew mark luke and john and you will discover it just shows up over and over and over again that in all of jesus ministry one of his greatest frustrations was trying to get those around him to see what he could see can i just speak to the e-fam and everybody right now at home what you see today is still in the beginning stages for what i believe all that pastor stephen and pastor holly still see for tomorrow it's so important that we continue to create an environment that we can learn how to see the way that they see because god gives us leaders who have vision and god is asking you today do you see anything what do you see do you see anything and it's important to god that you start to see i'm not talking about physical eyesight i'm talking about seeing with spiritual eyes that god wants to give you a vision close your eyes what do you see faith is the absence of sense faith doesn't make sense and god gives us a vision why because vision gives pain purpose many of us we keep quitting and we keep backing down because we lose the vision we don't see anything and god says what do you see vision gives pain purpose vision creates passion and vision gives direction i want to say it to you this way today where you're headed is better than where you have been there is more to come in 2021 come on somebody if you believe it thank god in advance what do you see what do you see and the man in verse 24 he looked up and said i see people they look like trees walking around what a peculiar thing to say he he opens his eyes and says i see trees and they look like people walking around i think it's really peculiar because obviously he's not seen clearly yet still jesus has touched him jesus has walked with him jesus has spit on him i could preach that one of these days and now jesus has asked him do you see him the man still goes now i see people they look like trees walking around what a peculiar thing to say i i heard one preacher one time say oh this is because the man was now seen with spiritual lenses and the people walking around that looked like trees well that's because that's a metaphor of playing the long game and that you and i we're called to be like trees planted by living water we're not called to be like the grass that withers and fades we're called to be like trees that bend and do not break i thought that was beautiful but um i'm just not that spiritual i'm a little bit more practical than that i think the obvious reason why the man looks up and says i see people they look like trees is because the man still does not have his eyesight back and what we are witnessing is we are witnessing a gradual miracle we are witnessing a miracle in process i don't know i just i gotta make an observation um if you were born blind you would not know what people look like if you were born blind you wouldn't know what trees looked like it leads me to believe that this man was not born blind but instead this man lost his vision along the way i wonder if you're watching today and this year 2020 has taken your vision i wonder if this year has taken your dream i wonder if this year has taken your calling i wonder if you lost your marriage i wonder if you lost your business i wonder if you lost some friendships can i prophesy today can i declare to every home and household that which the devil stole i declare you can get it back in jesus come on somebody give him praise all over this place give him praise today i'm gonna need some help worship team you can get it back [Applause] that which you lost i declare you can get it back in christ jesus [Applause] why because verse 25 says once more everyone say once more once more jesus put his hands on the man's eyes oh can i tell you today that you serve the once more god come on anybody believe in the once more god the miracle wonder working power of jesus friends this this is grace this is grace that god comes to us when we cannot get to him and he touches us once more once more i grew up in church and we used to have these things called altar calls and in the church i grew up in yo you know you you you there like my dad would preach if he saw me talking he would call me out in the sermon hey boy shut up just wet my pants and i can just remember so many times every service an altar call you ever have that moment where you just you're in god's presence and the man of the woman that's bringing the word it's like it's coming right for you you get that moment where your heart's beating you know your palms are sweating it's not an eminem song it's the holy spirit i can just remember throughout my my teenage years just how you know people talk about these these moments that like just like that's the day i give my life to jesus and i never wavered that's not my story i don't know how many times i walked that long aisle i don't know how many altar calls i responded to but it was a lot thank you god for your grace and i just i just remember coming to the altar and going god come on you can't forgive me again [Music] god it's the same i know i'm here i did it again i lost it again i messed up again do you have any more chances do you have any more opportunities and every time every time and he's saying it right now god how much voice is once born once more once more once i'm not finished with you being confident if he who began a good work in you will carry it out into completion once more scripture says in verse 25 says then his eyes were opened his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly that word restored means to be brought back to its original state anyone ever had that thought in 2020 can we get a do-over remember the nintendo when that game wasn't working would you pull it out i felt like that a couple of times in 2020 reset please reset please god god's a restorer to the original state this is why jesus came he came on a restoration mission ever since genesis 3 when man sinned and shamed has come into the world and death jesus came not just to save us he came to restore us i have this old jeep and it sits in my driveway i've had it since i was 17 it's paid off it's just this beautiful car i just love it it's just been a part of my childhood and i've just kept it and i don't drive it much in fact i haven't driven it for like six months and the other day i wanted to use it and i came out and when i opened the door i was shocked because the whole entire car was full of mildew and mold the steering wheel was green and the front seat was green and i said how on earth did this happen the car wouldn't start it wouldn't work and then i discovered that i had just i left the window just cracked just a little bit just a little crack let the rain water get in isn't it amazing that when we just leave a little crack to a heart how the enemy can get a foothold and some of us it was just a little bit of dishonesty but it's just started to corrupt that heart it was it was just a little window in the marriage in 2020 and it just the things deteriorating it was just it was just a little bit of just a little bit of a lack of character when it came to our business i just it was just a little bit of not serving a little bit of not giving and i don't know what happened but i reminded of when the theologian when solomon says above all else guard that heart for it's the wellspring of life keep that window closed don't you open up that window it seeps in and lets the wrong stuff in and it's just a little bit it's just a little bit [Music] but jesus he doesn't shy away he touches the man and when he touches the man once more his eyes are restored back to the original state he can see clearly eugene peterson he says it this way he says that the man could see clearly with 20 20 vision anybody feel like it took 2020 to give you 20 20 spiritual vision anyone feel like out there that you had to go through some shaking you had to go through some turbulence you had to go through some pain that your eyes might be opened up oh i want to say to people out there right now some of you you have been waiting a long time some of you you're on the brink of giving up but i would say don't give up hang on keep on waiting some of you're going i just been waiting so long no no friend you are not waiting god is restoring i know but i've been waiting so so long no no you're not waiting god is restoring god is bringing you back to the original state keep the window up keep your heart sealed up keep it closed up [Music] he's bringing you back he's restoring you some of you know the story of don sri and i we went eight years on an infertility journey eight years could not have kids talked to doctor after doctor couldn't seem to find the miracle i love our god it's scripture says he gives every good and perfect gift god doesn't have a good plan for you friend he has the best plan for you we came to a revelation somewhere on the journey it feels like we're blind out here in the village but guess what it's better to be blind with jesus than to have eyesight and have a baby in our hands if we never get a baby jesus is more than enough our family is complete in jesus but don't you just love god eight years of trying that number eight means the number of new beginnings january of 2018 my wife gave birth to our firstborn son wyatt wesley wilkerson he's a miracle boy we were happy we thought we won the lotto yo i got a son yo this is my son whom i love and i'm well pleased but god's like nah nah i'm the god who gives you double for your trouble and so that's why this past october in 2019 my wife gave birth to our second born son wilde wesley wilkerson i'm like i got two boys i can't even carry my blessing i can barely hold them we're good god we're good but god's like nah nah nah that ain't cool i'm still working something in your life don sri can't be in that house with three men she's gonna need a companion herself that's why i'm proud to announce in july of 2021 my wife is gonna have our third child it's a baby girl oh i would say to you if the vision seems slow in coming wait for it for those that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength you're not waiting he's restoring he's restoring this year's been long but he's restoring he's restoring i gotta i gotta go i gotta go i i gotta go well i love jesus he does this progressive miracle didn't happen overnight it happened over time my jeep it just got restored i drove it to my friend i said bro help me and over time he just turned it back and it's it's in good condition restoration is possible it just might not happen overnight that's what the lord shall this is what jesus says i just i gotta go jesus says okay does this miracle what does jesus say it's last verse 26 he says jesus sent him home saying don't even go into the village someone said don't go back to the village [Music] i don't know what's up with this village i don't know what jesus saw that we don't see but i do know that sometimes people they get healed but they go right back to the place that hurt them [Applause] i know that some people they find freedom but they go right back to the place that enslave them some people they they step into the light and the moments they step in the light they find themselves running back to the darkness don't go back to the village in 2021 come on someone say don't go back to the village don't go back to the village don't don't go back to the thing that was holding you back [Applause] i don't know why jesus said don't go into the village because really the only evidence i have about the village is good stuff this is the people who brought them this is the some people who brought the man to jesus and it got me thinking maybe jesus says don't go back to the village not because the village is bad but maybe it's just as simple of the fact that it's because the village is big the village isn't isn't bad it's just it's big you know what i've learned on my journey that gradual miracles are no place for the masses arenas don't gather for practice crowds don't show up backstage theaters don't fill up to witness the process and i think jesus was saying if you go back to that village big only knows how to celebrate big and if your measuring stick is simply reduced down to this word big you're gonna always feel small some of you just keep going god's gonna do a big thing god's gonna do a big thing but you have not defined what a big thing is and if you just take that miracle right back to the masses they're just going to go to the lowest common denominator and if they would have gone back to the village the village would have said oh my goodness jesus is a healer he opens blinded eyes and that would have been very true and that should be celebrated but i believe jesus was saying if you start celebrating the wrong thing you're going to repeat the wrong thing i opened up your physical eyes but i did something much deeper for there will be a day when you can't see again but this time you will know you can keep on walking little by little bit by bit moment by moment day by day you will know i'm not just a healer i'm a savior [Applause] it's little by little we tend to overestimate what we can do in one year and clearly underestimate what god could do over 10 years god i'm choosing to follow you day by day moment by moment little by little just just a little bit i'm just growing it just it's gradual i know you can't see it much but i'm becoming where i'm headed it's better than where i've been and the only thing more important who i am today is who i'm becoming tomorrow and so you don't see much today but little by little i'm growing how do you build a good marriage little by little how do you build a great church little by little how do you build a business little by little how do you build healthy friends little by little it's just it's little by little you need a new measuring stick you need a new measuring stick it's little by little little by little i just want to pray for people before we sing because i just sense the power of the holy spirit some of you are so disappointed so hurt so frustrated but you're growing you just can't see it and some of god's greatest miracles are not immediate they are progressive they're progressive come on the journey church can you lift your hands towards heaven lord i thank you for every person right now who's listening to the sound of my voice i thank you for every person on the other end of that screen and lord i prophesy and declare today that they are growing gradually that little by little lord they are making gains i pray that today lord they wouldn't give up they wouldn't back down but they would be full of faith god we don't just want to celebrate the immediate we don't want to get lost in the hype lord we want you to make us holy we want you to make us strong you we want you to make us deeper god i pray for elevation church lord i believe the best days are in front of this church lord i believe that we're just scratching the surface of all the things you're going to do and want to do but lord today we commit once again it doesn't have to happen overnight but god what you did in the first 15 years lord we're signing up again for another 15 years if you can use anything lord use us we're available to you we want to be used by you we're going to grow slow we're going to stay on the path we're still standing even after a pandemic we're still standing even though the world has been divided and we're united under the name of jesus so we commit again to plant seed to water seed to plant seed to water seed to plant seed to water seed and we're going to trust that our god will make it grow come on if you believe it give god some praise come on and worship him church lift your hands lift your voice come on stick it out well i know you were blessed by that word oh man thank god that he sends who we need to speak and he says what we need to hear in the moment when we need it the most hope you had a great christmas we're praying for you as we enter another year we know that nothing magical is going to happen because the calendar changes but we are believing for a fresh perspective like we heard about today and i want to thank all of you who gave and are giving to our favor offering there's still time to do it you know if you believe in what this ministry is doing get the word out by investing and also by sharing if you're not subscribed to this channel and if you've never shared a link with somebody do that man it's just a wonderful way for us to build god's kingdom together and see his will done on earth as it is in heaven i guess i can take down this uh christmas decoration i'll do that soon but you'll be blessed and we'll see you real soon holly and i love you very much

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 294,130

Rating: 4.9451423 out of 5

Keywords: elevation church, rich wilkerson jr, little by little, elevation church sermons, steven furtick, pastor steven furtick, rich wilkerson jr sermons, 2020 sermons, vous church, preaching, preacher, faith, gradually, seed, soil, restorer, restoration, walking with god

Id: o0lG0lVFbKI

Length: 58min 53sec (3533 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020