Rich Wilkerson Jr. — 7 Rules For Self Discovery - Check Your Circle

[Music] boo conference 2019 it is not an overstatement to me this for me to say I think blue conference is the greatest conference in the history of all conferences throughout the course of mankind and somebody might say Karl that's too much I would say you've never been to MU confidence it's that much fun God does so much and it's in Miami so I can't wait I think I've been to all of them and I would go anywhere to be with rich and Don Sheree let alone this special food conference so make sure you're there invite somebody everybody's welcome and I think it's gonna be powerful so we love you can't wait see you there register food conference best of all time Jesus doesn't visit my life he has ownership and residency of my heart and soul he doesn't leave he doesn't go anywhere he is with me all the time and if we can turn the page and realize this is not some old-school religion but you can actually wake up in the morning and say hey Lord Here I am if you see Jesus like he is present all the time guess what this should be some new faith in your blood there should be some new fire in your eyes because we have the right more than anybody else in this world to wake up and realize I serve the Living God mark chapter 2 is our text this evening I'm gonna read some scriptures and then I'm going to talk about the scriptures so mark chapter 2 verse 1 says this it says a few days later when Jesus again entered Capernaum the people heard that he had come home so many gathered that there was no room left not even outside the door and he preached the word to them someone say the word some men came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four of them since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and after digging through it lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on when Jesus saw their faith every one say their faith he said to the paralytic son your sins are forgiven now some teachers of the law were sitting there thinking themselves why does this fellow talk like that I don't know why but that little line is funny to me like they're talking about Jesus who is this fellow it doesn't seem right to call Jesus a fellow but he's blaspheming who can forgive sins but God alone immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts and he said to them why are you thinking these things which is easier to say to the paralytic your sins are forgiven or to say get up take your mat and walk but that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins he said to the paralytic I tell you get up take your mat and go home he got up took his mat and walked out in full view of them all I love this this amazed everyone and they praised God saying we have never seen anything like this how many believe tonight that we could walk into church and we too could be amazed by what God does that we might leave this place declaring to our city we've never seen anything like this before come on I need a little bit of faith tonight for 11 days away from vous conference I don't know who you are or where you're coming from you might be here at high tech you might be watching by way of YouTube for podcasts but I'm telling you God is stirring something up in our church but we don't have to wait for conference to encounter him I'm telling you tonight we can be amazed by the presence of God and we can leave your sand I don't know what it is but tonight I saw something I've never seen before we're continuing this collection of talks it's a seven-week collection next Sunday we will conclude it the week before vu conference and we've titled the collection seven rules for self-discovery and tonight we are in the sixth part and I've entitled this sermon check your circle I want you to look at your neighbor because this is a holler back kind of night and just look at them and say check your circle now every time we come to church we know we're supposed to talk to people but somehow we could sit next to someone and never introduce ourselves to find the person you haven't talked to yet tonight look at them and say I'm gonna give you advice even though I don't know you just say check your circle come on say it say it say check your circle check your circle I know you don't know me if I wanna advise you to check your circle would you pray with me tonight Lord anoint these words fill this room we've come to encounter you we've come to see you Lord we're not in a defensive posture we're here with open hearts put a word into our spirit tonight lo we want this word to make tomorrow different we want this word Lord to actually be applied this week that something changes help us to get a glimpse of Jesus transform us from the inside out we believe you can we believe you will we're ready to be amazed we love you and we thank you and if you believe that prayer all of God's people said all of God's people said now everybody at the itec auditorium if you love Jesus can you make some noise [Music] [Applause] we have been six weeks in a collection entitled seven rules for self discovery maybe you don't like that title maybe it sounds too self-help issue for you maybe a better title would be seven rules for soul discovery alternately what we are trying to do is we are trying to get to the actual self not the projected self not who we say that we are who are we really and it's foundational work that we have been doing and it's confronting if we're being honest how many of you know that you can't change that which you fail to confront and these rules we didn't make them up but they come from a great theologian his name is aw Tozer and he has been leading us to examine the inside of who we are he's asked us questions like what you think about the most what you want the most where you spend your leisure time how you spend your money who you admire and really tonight is probably my favorite rule because this is the sixth rule when I saw this in the collection I said I got a preach that one because this one is one that resonates with my spirit the sixth rule that aw Tozer gives us when it comes to seven rules of self discovery the sixth rule is the company you keep you see until we can admit who we actually are in life God can't develop us into who are called to be if you don't know you're starting friend you're never gonna get to your endpoint and so being honest and we're being vulnerable and we're looking within and saying Who am I really and tozer would say to you and I you wanna know who you are just check the circle of your friends because the company you keep tells a whole lot about you someone say out loud check your circle see the people around us I don't care what your job is I don't care how strong you are I don't care how far down the road of life the people around you the more time you spend with them I don't care who you are you're going to become like them you point out your five best friends and I will prophesy to you about your five next years and I'm not even a prophet because it's not rocket science the friends in your life are shaping the future of your life and all throughout the scriptures you will see this that God in the word is constantly challenging us and constantly telling us to choose wisely who we do life with we're not talking about acquaintances we're not talking about friends at work we're talking about our circle of friends yet the Bible when it's warning you is not trying to punish you the Bible is always trying to protect you I mean look what the scripture says this is proverbs chapter 13 verse 20 it says walk with the wise and become wise I get encouraged because if you're lacking wisdom tonight there's actually an answer get around people that are wise but look what he says he says for a companion of fools suffers harm have you ever considered that a lot of the hurt in your life is because all your friends are fools Paul he says to the church in Corinth chapter 15 verse 33 says do not be misled don't be confused don't search for reasons it's the universe don't come up with abstract ideas as to why your life is where it is he says do not be mislead bad company corrupts good character many of you in this room I want to unlock something in your life tonight you don't have a shortage of talent you don't have a shortage of gifting your problem is you have corrupted character and if your character is corrupted it doesn't matter how talented you are when push comes to shove you will not last and you will not fulfill the mission God has for your life and the best way to get good character is to remove bad company somebody say check your circle check your circle Paul will tell us again in second Corinthians his second letter the church in Corinth will say in chapter 6 verse 14 he says do not be yoked together with unbelievers for what it righteousness and wickedness have in common or what fellowship can light have with darkness now he's not once again saying don't go to the gym and he's not saying don't work out with somebody who doesn't believe in Jesus he's not saying stay away from the world he's talking about being yoked up problem is we don't know what that even means to be yoked up because we're not farmers because a yoke is a farming tool that's put on two oxen not one it's a wooden device that goes on their shoulders yet every good farmer would know that you would never put one strong ox with a weak ox because if you did when they get yoked up they're meant to plow a straight line in the field but instead what they would do is they would zigzag and at worse they would go in circles somebody tonight you can resonate with the metaphor because it's not like you don't have a dream for your life it's not like you don't have a desire in fact some of you it's not that you don't even have faith in God your problem is every time you step out you have yoked yourself up to people that you have no business being yoked up to and your life is going in zigzags some of you you totally understand the idea of going in circles why is it I'm back here again this time like I was last year I should have overcome that I should be further I should be stronger but have you ever considered the reason why you're going in circles is because you never stop to consider have I ever checked my circle someone say check your circle this idea of friendship and relationship is not like some isolated idea like hey we'll see you next year we'll preach about this again this is a central theme of God's Word you serve a relational God we were we were made for relationship every one of us in this room take a moment and think about this the first problem in the Bible was not sin first problem in the Bible was solitude Adam was created in the image of God Adam had perfect relationship with God they would walk together in the cool of the garden yet even God looks at Adam and says it's not good for man to be alone that kind of messes with us doesn't it because sometimes were like all you need is God but gods like not true because I've hardwired you with a desire for people and for relationships and the way that I fulfill the desire on the inside of you is that I put people in your path this messes with some of you because some of you have this rough and tough theology it's like it's me and God versus the world friend you're never gonna get to your destination God creates Adam in His image says it's not good for man to be alone this is before sin is in the equation he puts out an asleep takes from his rib creates Eve and together they are yoked up in partnership I'm not advocating marriage I'm advocating partnership relationship and people in your life check your circle you see sin entered the equation what happened send it a lot of stuff to us we know the result and the consequence of sin that we're going to die but the big thing with sin is that it severed our relationship with God and it severed our relationship with one another this is one of the primary reasons why Jesus came to the earth yes he came to save you yes he came to redeem you but he also came to restore your relationship with God and each other Jesus out of all the nicknames he could have one of those most famous nicknames as he is the friend of sinners the god of the heavens and the universe chooses to be your friend before he goes to the cross John chapter 15 verse 13 he's giving his last teaching and what does he say to his disciples he says there is no greater love than this that when one lays their life down for their friend make no mistake about it the cross of Jesus Christ is history's most heroic act of friendship for on Calvary's Hill at the cross yes it is a simple but it's more than a simple it is a statement that your relationship to God vertically has been restored and your relationship to each other horizontally has been restored God says Eden is back open for business I want you to have the right relationships someone say check your circle problem that you and I have is that so often all of our friends come into our life not by design but by default oh we just we just met at work and yeah and what happens to a lot of people's a lot of people they don't realize it but it's so much easier to pull someone down than it is to pull someone up let me see if I can illustrate something I'm gonna come up to the fire my man James J is how you doin bro you good so half of your up here James hop up here can you two stand up on this thing for me real quick you're great and then Couser come on where to put you to work tonight you're a good man get over here at ciao sir come on make some noise for James and for joust or come on work with these guys if you sit on the stage all bets are off who knows what's gonna happen here's the deal I want you to come stand by me for a second come stand next to me and then James you obviously work out that's that's a parent right yeah let's be honest to me show us your abs no I'm kidding I'm kidding everything so we okay here ducks all right here's the I'll come look look these people jaws are single yeah praise God single okay um here's the deal like both these guys are strong but I can tell James is a really strong dude and it's a parent but even as strong as he is like I just want you to see Couser he's a good guy too but see if you can just keep you can like lift jazzer up there can you just see if I can pick him up yeah just if you can get him yeah come on get your base get your come on get your fat come on yeah Chow's or put your arms up like a baby like okay great okay I know kid okay can you say daddy don't get down kidding okay I'm kidding I'm kidding kidding I'm kidding I'm kidding I'm kidding it's 7:15 if you want polish come at 10:00 okay all right what's funny is that like this is this is a picture of so many people just a lot of you a really good intention really good hard it's like I'm just gonna save people you can't save people yes Jesus's job you know like you're not Jesus um people date this way people get married this way okay I'm like everyone's welcome on church but like people date this way Pastor Richard understand like he is amazing and no no no he doesn't believe in Jesus but he has come to church on Easter and Christmas Eve and I think he's open I'd be careful girl you don't want to save your spouse you want to stand with your spouse [Applause] it's actually called missionary dating I hope he meets Jesus it's not your job because here's a deal like like James you did a good job at Chow sir I want you to hold yourself now bro okay jobs let's see if you can get him down do you think you can come on Jeff oh that was weak get back up that Domino I'm gonna sturdy you gave in way too quick you fall into temptation easy don't you yeah be honest okay wait here oh here we go here we go just a whole lot of it guys when I come on here we go oh come on Schuyler get him get him shout sir get him jazzer get him chowder oh he's breaking carpets come on get him jaws let's go come on come on give it up jaws of the strongest man I ever met you're amazing you're amazing we had a guy in the fight him he tried to pick this person up in the whole bench when I was like oh my god we don't have insurance stop you know you can struggle and you can try but it's always easier to pull someone down and many of us in this room I'm not telling you to change your heart and your desire to help people what I am trying to tell you is that your circle should not be full of people that are pulling you down your circle should be full of people that are pulling you up come on somebody give God some praise someone say check your circle mark chapter two is one of my favorite stories in the Bible when it comes to a circle of friends we don't know the names of the people in the story but we know their condition it's amazing there's this guy in mark 2 he's paralyzed but he has four friends that come and pick him up and they bring in to Jesus he gets saved and he gets healed in a moment what's really interesting to me though about mark chapter two is that you've got to put this text into cultural context because the thinking of that day as we read mark chapter two was that anybody who was paralyzed disabled or sick in their body they were thought to be cursed by God in fact many people would say that their situation was due to their sin and because they were known as sinners they became outcasts in society not just labeled as outcasts but literally pushed outside the city in many cases only allowed to come into contact with healthy people in daylight and so I've preached this text before lots of times but I've always zeroed in on the for friends but we're talking about seven rules of self-discovery and Tozer would tell you an eye that you can determine who someone is by the company they keep so rather than look at the four friends I want to look at the paralyzed man what did he do to attract such strength what did he do to attract such health listen we know what's about to happen we know he's going to get healed and we know he's going to get saved but some of you tonight that's not the message you need the message you need is who was this man before his breakthrough who was this man before he got the desire of his heart how did this man think before God's miraculous power showed up in his life who was this man in his broken state because tonight maybe you're here and you feel paralyzed in an area of your life but maybe tonight if you could check your circle maybe you two could see the future that this man in mark chapter 2 experienced someone say check your circle see three things the first thing that I see about this man I don't know his name I just know his condition and out of the people that he got around him first thing that I see is that he did not tolerate being treated like a victim Society said he don't belong he goes I don't believe it so you're gonna have to get a revelation in life that things are gonna always be happening around you but the power is not in what's happening around you the power is happening on inside of you it doesn't really matter what people believe about you what really matters what do you believe about yourself what do you believe about you because Society would say yo you're an outcast because you've sinned you are paralyzed and it is so easy to take on a victim mentality when bad stuff starts happening to you that you didn't cause befriend this man wasn't paralyzed because of his sin this man was paralyzed because life happens I wish I could tell you tonight that if you come to this church and if you give your life to Jesus that everything in your life is gonna get better that you're gonna marry the person of your dreams but you're gonna have your dream job you're gonna have your dream car your house is gonna be bigger than you ever imagined your bank account should change your tune how much you can tell you'll never experience cancer how would you tell you that your kids will always serve God but it's not true cuz life happens I can't control what's happening to me but I can control how I respond to what's happening to me [Applause] yet many of us would prefer to be coddled instead of being challenged and we tolerate people treating us like a victim because we believe were a victim so our circle of friends as people that are coddling us my son Wyatt 16 months of age and this is crazy to me but welcome to 2019 he's in swim lessons did you know that babies can swim where have I been you know and what's crazy is why it is like he's a prodigy honestly he's a prodigy like he's incredible like Michael Phelps you better watch out you know I got Aquaman too living up in my house I'm serious this kid is so good bro he yesterday we were in the pool with the instructor this kid held his breath for six seconds and swam he's 16 months we got 36 year old men that have never done that in this church this kids amazing bro he's increase women's in a pool I wake him up every morning the first thing he does he goes knuckles and he goes pulled pulled swim swam it's funny dawn Sheree has been away this week she's preaching in England yeah thankful for it there hasn't been one bath time but there's been a whole lot of pool time dad's be like the chlorine will kill it you know chlorine will get it chlorine will get it I'm impressed this little 16 month boy out he loves the pool yesterday we were sitting on the pool steps hanging out just doing a thing just you know father-son stuff and um we're sitting in a pool of water and the sprinkler system which is automatic turned on and the sprinkler came up and it it's like 10 feet away from Wyatt but the drops of water sprinkled onto his already wet body but when the drops of water from the sprinkler hit him he began to panic he began to scream he began to cry and he just cling to me I'm like bro don't act like such a baby you know like no hear me of course i coddled my son I'm a good father held him hmm buddy you know buddy you know but just for a moment just for a little moment I do not want to raise a victim in my house I said boy get up I picked the kid up and I walked over to sprinkle I said put your hand in the sprinkler put in there cuz I'm his father and yes I'll coddle him from time to time but I'm called to challenge him friends he's 16 months swimming in a pool of water but when the sprinkler gets drops of water on him he panics whyatt you're in a pool of water see my son doesn't have a problem with water his problem is his belief about the water you think you have a problem in yeah I'm not excluding your problem just saying the bigger problem is the way that you're thinking about your problem my son has already conquered the obstacle of water he's sixteen months and he's swimming the only thing that's changed about the water is the form of the water see what happens to a lot of us is a lot of us we've already conquered a certain obstacle in our life yet when the form changes on us we start thinking like a victim again we start panicking we start backing down we start living life full of fear but friend you've already conquered it the form has just changed my Bible tells me that no weapon formed against me shall prosper I can't promise you that the form won't change but I can't promise you is that weapon will not prosper come on somebody I want you to give God some praise like you know that he's challenged you're not a victim you're more than a conqueror I don't need some friends to calm me I need some friends that challenge me spare me the victim thing I'm not tolerating anybody treating me like a victim because I Know Who I am and you can say I don't belong and you can say I'm an outcast you can say I'll live paralyzed forever but I'm not buying into that thinking tonight you might be here I want to be I want to be kind I'm not trying to be brash I'm just telling you I know that you've gone through some stuff some of you have crawled your way through every valley just to make it here I'm not excusing what has happened to you I'm not making light out of the stuff you have gone through what I'm trying to tell you is that if you don't change your thinking about your present sufferings you're gonna live paralyzed for a long time this man I don't know anything about him I know about his company and it tells me don't treat me like a victim no no no no what's interesting is that all of us in this room like you attract who you are and that's what I'm fascinated about because this man the majority of his time the proximity of the people he would have been around would have been diseased disabled dysfunctional and it's really easy to start living life by default when you're surrounded by toxic thinking Bruce Allen I don't believe that about myself misery loves company but this man said no no I'm not a victim I got victims around me but I got to keep believing the best in front of me because that's the only way I'm gonna attract some health friend listen to me he loud and clear do not pick your friends that are enabling you pick some friends who empower you please don't enable me and my brokenness please do not enable my negative thinking please stop enabling my excuses please stop enabling my vicious cycles please quit enabling my laziness please quit in a believe me just going huh that's Who I am I guess I don't need to be enabled I need some friends who will empower me empower me to think a new thought empower me not to give up empower me to go further empower me to go harder old friend this man's legs were broken but his mind was free I am NOT a victim I'm a victor and my present situation does not define my potential destination life doesn't happen to me life happens for me so spare me your sympathy I don't need any of it what I do need is your strength what I do need are your strategies what I do need is you to sharpen me I need you to empower me so I can step in the future God has called me to come on somebody give God some praise tonight come on somebody come on someone say check your circle because your circle is defining your future this man he didn't tolerate being treated like a victim but secondly this man he wasn't insecure around stronger people this is so big because here's this man he's paralyzed and somehow these four friends they come in they they pick him up and so we know he doesn't have a victim mentality but we also know that he's humble enough and smart enough to ask for help when he needs it he doesn't matter how much positive thinking and it doesn't matter how good his outlook was he was still paralyzed he was gonna need somebody who had healthy legs to carry him to where he wanted to go see one of the negative things that can happen from people who conquer a victim mentality if you're not careful you'll conquer a victim mentality but instead of resulting in humility you will result in pride mash I'm good bro I got a dream I'm good I'm gonna make it no matter what ah you you're gonna need some help along the way and what happens when your prideful what happens when your life is full of of pride is you start creating codependent friends because you're insecure around anyone who's gone further than you better than you you can't honor people further than you you can't reach up instead you're more comfortable everyone at your level or beneath you because it feeds your ego that you're needed but but you got to break the thinking listen to me here's a good thought if you're the smartest person in your group you need another group someone say check your circle when we started this church some of you are new to our community we're so grateful that you're here but it has been an amazing god journey just three and a half years it's crazy to look back and see all that God has done in just three and a half years of time but our church has grown beyond what we really thought could happen in such a short amount of time but this thing started in our apartment with a handful of people but what a lessons that I learned quickly like him like day one of like meeting in my apartment was that if we're ever gonna be the church God's called us to be I'm gonna have to get really comfortable leading people who are stronger than me smarter than me and better than me rich how can you do such a thing I can do such a thing because I'm actually resting in God's grace for my grace is sufficient for you for when you're weak I'm actually strong His grace is sufficient you what sufficient means it means adequate for its purpose His grace is adequate for its purpose the word adequate means just the right amount see grace is not given to us all in the same measure the single mom needs more grace than the grandmother who is living on retirement a person who's in chemotherapy right now who's got weeks to live needs more grace than the little baby who's being taken care of by mom and dad yet what I love about our God is that our God says I've got the right amount the perfect amount of grace for your purpose for your story I've got enough grace for your race it's got exactly what you need but you have to walk in humility and you have to be smart enough to say I'm never gonna get to where I'm called to go on my own got to check your circle if you are threatened by people smarter than you if you're threatened by people more educated than you if you're threatened by people more talented than you if you're threatened by people that are wealthier than you if you're threatened by people of a different race if you're threatened by people who have a bigger bank account if you're threatened by people who have a different personality than you if you're threatened by people who have a different perspective than you then listen to me you will live paralyzed forever because you need all of what's different about them to get you to where God has called you to go it's what makes them different it's what makes them strong that you need to lean into but it takes secure people to say you know what I don't have a victim mentality but one thing I do know is that I don't have healthy legs could I borrow yours for a moment but because this man was humble and smart he asked for help he went from two bad legs to four friends and it turned into eight good legs I wish I could get a witness tonight if you knew what I'm talking about because God wants to take you further faster but you're gonna need some people to help you get there go ahead and let out a roar if you believe it tonight go ahead [Applause] look at your neighbors they check your circle this man I don't know all about his life I know the company he kept and it tells me who he really was he didn't tolerate people treating him like a victim he wasn't afraid to be around people that had gone further that were stronger than him he welcomed the help he welcomed the wisdom but lastly he was really smart because he surrounded himself with faith now I don't even know what this man had faith scripture doesn't tell us that the scripture says these four guys they pick him up but you know just being picked up and carried for a moment is not really what we're after I love the song lean on me I love it but if we're just leaning and you're not taking me somewhere that that's not really what I need I don't just need you to take me anywhere I need you to take me to a person his name is Jesus he's for friends like yo I don't know if we can solve your problem but I kind of feeling there is one who can his name is Jesus and these four guys that they picked this man up and they carry him and they bring him to the person of Jesus I know it can look small but the biggest thing you can do to be a great friend is point your friends to Jesus some of you in this room you're like I want to be a better friend this year here's your first bit of homework point your friends at Jesus when they start talking negative look at Jesus when they're in their head and their vicious cycle ah what does Jesus say when they're believing the worst help him to believe the best I don't know if this paralyzed man had faith but he was smart enough to surround himself with faith because I know these four guys had faith there's a couple reasons I could prove it the first is is that when they picked this guy up they'd take him to the service that Jesus is preaching at and when they get to the place is packed there they're late it's already overflowing with people the host teams like sorry is packed you have to sit outside you can wait for the next service I love you guys like no no we get into this one see great faith is always seen when people are rejected that they don't give up and quit great faith requires you at times to do stuff that doesn't make any sense the scripture says that they go up to the top of the roof and they start digging a hole in the roof we're getting our friend at Jesus today I know it's like met can you imagine the mess that it was making tiles coming down dirt coming down these guys have got a jackhammer as they're demoing the roof in the church service that Jesus is preaching in yet sometimes great faith will require you to tear the roof off and if we're gonna be the church that God's called us to be we need to choose messy over easy every single time I don't want this church to be easy and clean I want it to be messy I want it to be impossible because that's where breakthrough happens that's where God shows up some you're like oh my goodness you understand rich my life is hard my job is so hard I hear you you might need a new job really yeah because God hasn't called you to do hard stuff bro let me just come for you he doesn't called you to hard stuff it's way worse than that he's called you to impossible stuff I'm picking impossible over heart every time I want a messy Church I love our church because people show up here 5:45 in the morning I know it looks really beautiful and clean right now but y'all this is a mess people showing up in June out of a semi-truck pulling stuff out cables everywhere you go there you go they're cutting into stuff getting stuff ready why because they're saying we will do whatever it takes we will rip the roof off this place just to get our friends to Jesus we want four friends to meet Jesus build a church in this city is not a hard task you better up the stakes it's impossible we don't serve the god of hard we serve the god of the impossible and unless it's impossible it's probably not worth doing these guys got tested that's how we know they had faith because until your faith gets tested it really can't be trusted rejection came to say we're not gonna quit well I keep trying to make away its mess even we think Jesus can do something but they get this man through the roof they're lowered him down Jesus is closing just like this the keys are up there and this man's coming down and quickly we see the second reason why we know these guys have faith it's it's simply because Jesus says so that's a good day right how'd your day go honey I met Jesus he told me I've got great faith ah women you know like Jesus stops his his man's coming down he doesn't look at the man and say he first looks up at the friends the circle the group this is what he says he says because of their faith your sins are forgiven someone say their faith someone say check your circle now maybe here tonight you like rich cool like he said your sins are forgiven but like yo that's not why the guy was there he was paralyzed I know but what good is it to have two healthy legs and still have a broken soul we're talking about seven rules of self discovered we're talk about foundational work we're talking about soul work and you better rest assured that before Jesus ever touches your exterior he will always first start on the interior before he ministers to your physical needs he's gonna touch your spiritual needs what's so hard for you and I is that we believe in this invisible God but we always wanted me to do visible things and this man comes down and Jesus says your sins are forgiven and people are like what Pharisees like what this says can't be forgiven only God can do that Europe you're a blasphemer but it wasn't that he just thought he was blasphemer they were really confused because of thinking of that days is that you're paralyzed because you're a sinner so how could you be forgiven and still be paralyzed it's because Jesus is always teaching us that you have to set the route before the fruit can appear may we never be a church that demands fruit before the roots have said may we always be a church that journeys with people that we can believe that people's salvation is secure we can believe that their future is bright and they can still be paralyzed in some areas but that doesn't mean that we're gonna quit believing in the invisible God who's doing more than we could ever think or imagine in the supernatural world but I love Jesus he asked him a question he's like you know what do you think is like the harder miracle many times when Jesus is trying to teach you he won't just tell you the answer he'll ask you a question and I think the question resonates with us tonight because some of us in this room we need a new revelation that the greater miracle in the story is the man being forgiven before the man being healed what do you think the greater miracle is they don't answer and he's like but you know what just to prove you haters wrong I'm not gonna always do this but since I'm here why not just to prove that I can forgive sins but just to prove to you that I'm not just a man but I actually came from heaven above and I am the God of the heavens and the universe hey buddy why don't you pick up your mat and go home and without any hesitation this joker gets up off his mat grabs his mat and walked out of that room and everybody was amazed and they said we've never seen anything like this before and Jesus was declaring I hope you understand that I am the God who is always able but not only am I able I am the God who is willing I can forgive your sins and I can heal your body I'm the same God yesterday today and forever Jesus deserves all the glory in the story but I do think it would be foolish of us not to observe and not to take note the role that these four friends played in this man's future forever being changed because of their faith I don't know if this man had faith but he was smart enough to surround himself with faith I hope you have the wisdom to surround yourself with faith in fact to me they just look down your row for a minute can you look down here I know it's awkward come on you're already here just look down your road look look at people get some eye contact I know it's creepy but you didn't want to do it to that one girl so just do it now here it is go go go you know he made me do it you know I'm having you look because I want you to see what faith looks like because this is a room full of faint I know I don't know everyone's story but I got an I got enough of an indication tonight that people showed up to Little Haiti in the month of June at 7:15 p.m. to fill a high school auditorium I got a sense there's some faith in the room tonight and as you look down your row there's people all around you that are full of faith but this is why we need a bigger picture of what churches is not a Sunday program it's people I didn't tell you tonight to get in line with faith I said gets around it with faith yet Church it's not a line it's a circle it's a circle it's real people that you really know I'm not saying that everyone in this church can know your name but but somebody ought to know your name I'm not saying you can know everyone's name but you ought to know somebody's name you saw a beautiful story tonight out of my friend Matt who's in a vu crew and I just think it's just so fitting with what we're talking about tonight that Matt in a crew is his church is his community it's his circle and he was paralyzed with an addiction called alcoholism yet in his darkest moment in his hardest moment when he could have thought like a victim when he could have been insecure thank God he was surrounded by faith because laid in the midnight hour who did he call he called a person [Applause] Kyle his crew leader bro can you help me the cows like me I don't know if I can help you I'm not the smartest guy in the world but I know this I can pick you up and I can carry the one who can someone say check your circle a crew turns a row into a circle a row is not going to change your life a row is not an indication of who you are but a circle is I need to be surrounded it is true it's easier to pull someone down it is to pull someone up but that's only true when you're going at it alone James get back up there get back up there let's just show come on get back up there all right shouts we'll get over your chair get over here my man get up get up get up get up jobs or come stand right over here come stand over here let you know let's get some girls involved just stand in front look at all these precious people this is Jiao sir he's single he's looking to marry someone tonight can you come help us as well can you come over here awesome awesome that's one that's two that's three let's get one more let's get one come on Melissa get over here I think we can do it just this group right here scoot over a little bit James make some room here's the deal James all by himself can't get jouster up to his level but when jazzer even in his broken state positions himself and gets surrounded by people of faith people on the journey a community not a program of people I don't care what he's going through come hell or high water this group of people I got faith tonight that they can raise him up and they can get him to a higher place anybody believe tonight they can get Chou's let's see if you can get chowster up there come on come on everybody everybody help just see you're gonna get up there come on let's see what get about come on some of you in this room tonight you don't need another BFF you know what you need you need an SSS you need a faith-filled friend that when you don't have the strength they still got the strength when you're faithless don't fight for you when you can't get to Jesus they'll bring you they'll carry you come on somebody give God praise

Channel: VOUS Church

Views: 40,455

Rating: 4.9348197 out of 5

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Id: bgz9OIqIoag

Length: 50min 16sec (3016 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2019