Rich Wilkerson Jr. — Hebrews: You Are Surrounded

today we're in the fifth part of our study on Hebrews next week if you can believe it we're coming to a close it'll be our last installment in our collection this week you'll be reading Hebrews chapter 12 and chapter 13 and today I wanted to pick up from our reading in Chapter 11 and I'm gonna give you a little bit of chapter 12 gonna be kind of all over the place and so maybe write down some notes and jot down the verses that I'm giving you today but before we get into the content each week we've been bringing up this Hebrews Creed we've been reading it together as it comes up on the screen on the count of three from the balcony to this ground floor can we all read it out loud together ready one two three I live by faith and not by sight the Lord is my helper so I will have no fear since Jesus has gone through suffering and testing he is able to help me when I am being tested I hold tightly to the hope of God's promise for my life I encourage my brothers and sisters to do the same I run the race God has set before me and I'm not going back if you believe it puts your hands together today I wanted to preach today from the subject Hebrews chapter 11 and chapter 12 I want to preach from the subject you are surrounded forget your neighbors say you are surrounded I think it's important that you understand that this thing called the church is not new this is a very old thing that's been happening for a very long time if we're not careful at vu church with so many new converts and so many new people entering into a community like this for the first time we can start to convince ourselves that we've got the jump on something or we know something you might start thinking oh man we created voo crews not true open the Bible to the book of Acts the church met in small groups you might go oh my goodness we got a brand new EP out this is awesome we know all about worship not really open your Bible to Psalms we're kind of a broken record we are that remix okay it's important that you understand that because if you start to think that you're the new thing and the cool thing you will start to think more about yourself than what you really are and need I remind you what happens when you begin to walk in Pride the next step is that you are going to enter into destruction we've been studying the book of Hebrews and Hebrews is written to a audience that is once Jews that have now converted to Christianity and now that they're following Jesus they didn't expect that they were gonna face resistance they didn't expect that it faced obstacles they never dreamed that they were gonna be persecuted for following Jesus and the rider over and over again is trying to spur them on he's trying to say you can't go backwards don't go back to the religious system don't go back to trust in your flesh continue to follow Jesus there's more in front of you you're not going back yet today the way that he is going to continue to teach them as he wants to go backwards and he wants to remind them that they're not the first ones to face obstacles not the first ones to face challenges but rather our faith has moved forward not from success to success but from sacrifice to sacrifice on Mondays I try to get in the gym first thing in the morning just because I want to remind my body who's in charge after preaching five times you can start to feel a little depleted not on my watch and if I'm really hurting I'll go into this thing called a cold plunge it's a pool of water that is usually at the temperature about 50 degrees and really to sit in the cold plunge for a minute you're pretty strong but come on I want to get stronger I go for three minutes a couple weeks ago I was with my friend Zach and he and I were in the cold plunge together I said let's go for three minutes and for three minutes we were in there we're talking we got out it was cool well last week Zach went back to the cold plunge but this time he went by himself and he came and he reported me he's like bro I was at the cold plunge and it was weird Mays like I could barely even get a minute I don't know what happened it was so difficult I said I know what happened he said what I said you were missing your partner how many know that when you have a partner all of a sudden you start going alright you got another minute in you I got another minute in me you got two minutes I got three minutes and before you know it you can endure you can keep going you are stronger together come on somebody give God some praise today the writer in Hebrews is gonna say that you need to persevere and the only way that you will persevere is if you have faith now I know that's like maybe not new news to you because you think every week this whole thing is about faith and you would be right yet Hebrews 11 and 12 is known as the Hall of faith in fact this word faith shows up in these two chapters more than almost any place in the Bible and the writer is saying hey I want to let you know that you're gonna need faith to persevere you're not new this is an old thing that's been going on for a long time don't back down there's those that have gone before you that were able to persevere and if they could persevere so can you so Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 maybe the best definition of faith in the entire Bible this is how it hits off Hebrews 11:1 says this it says now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see now in this one little verse you could do a four part teaching series because there's so much in it yet I can't even get past the first two words the first two words say now faith everyone say now faith see I want you to understand that faith is not a tomorrow thing faith is not a yesterday thing faith is a right now today kind of thing you serve the god of today today is the day of salvation I know God can do it tomorrow I know he did it in the past but you better believe that right now he can do it right now he can turn it around right now God is working I want now faith now faith the power is not in yesterday the power is not in tomorrow the truth the matter is is the power is wrapped up right here in the present and our challenge for so many of us is that we are so distracted in this world that we are living in have you noticed it seems like every day our attention span decreases there's so many distractions the world is shouting at us and every single day and because the world is shouting at us it's so easy for us to miss the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit I am I have a confession to make um I have an addiction that I've been wanting to share with you guys for many weeks now I'm addicted to Instagram you laugh now but it's dirty um I'm addicted to Instagram to the point that this past week I decided I was gonna take an Instagram fast I know it's not super spiritual it's not super deep it doesn't sound very difficult you don't know my story and I've learned when it comes to Instagram that I actually have to delete the app from my phone like it's I've got to remove it from the phone why because I've learned I can get up on this stage I can tell you I'm done with Instagram I can go to small group and go to VU Croom like hey guys we just pray for me I'm done with I'm done with Instagram and I could tell you all that but if I leave that thing on my phone I'm lying to you in fact this week I took it off of my phone and I'm not proud of this um I took it off my phone but I found myself in every conversation where there was silence or an awkward moment where there wasn't something taking place I would reach for my phone and I would start searching for the Instagram app it's not even on my phone have you ever felt dumb by yourself have you ever been completely embarrassed but nobody's laughing at you you're laughing at yourself what is wrong with you rich you're an addict that's what's wrong with you you're gonna find me in a halfway house I'm I'm completely addicted I have learned that in order for me to get rid of this distraction I actually have to remove it from my life a lot of us in this room there's distractions that are hitting us that are preventing us from operating in faith and you say you have tried everything the only thing you have yet to try is you get to remove it from your life at some point you might not to say you know what listen it's not that drinking's bad it's just that when I walk into a bar and I get a taste of that I become a person I don't ever want to meet again so that you know what you might have to you might have to remove every opportunity which is you might not be able to go into a bar ever again because you're legalistic but because you want to operate in faith you might be here today and say you know what I might have to remove the idea of me being in a relationship ever again because I don't know how to steward it properly you might be here today and say you know what I have to remove I can't have a cell phone I can't have a computer living in my house I got to keep that at the office place because I don't know how to manage that thing and every time that opportunity is there I find myself falling victim and becoming something that I don't want and so I have decided I'm gonna operate in faith I'm gonna remove the distractions and I'm gonna lean into the fact that God can do it right now today come on somebody give God some praise he can do it today now faith faith is not just the ability to believe that tomorrow is gonna get better faith is the ability and belief that right now today things can change my future is not built tomorrow my future's built today now faith I need faith right now and the writer says now faith that today kind of fake the fake that you need right now is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you cannot see you know this is illogical like sure of what we hope for I hope the Dolphins won the Superbowl be sure of it I don't think so certain of what I cannot see sight is one of your five senses yet faith is the absence of sense if you can see it is not faith if you can taste it it's not fades if you can hear it it's not faith that you can touch it it's not faith faith is saying I believe in faith like Wi-Fi it's invisible but it has the power to connect you to what you need I was in fear Oh Beach this past week with our staff we were on our staff retreat casting vision for the next year and came back full of life and it was wild to me because I had forgotten my wife and I we were there the last day and Dawn sherry said Ritchie know we were here ten years ago at this exact same hotel and she had that Facebook app and she pulled up that Facebook app and there was a photo of dontrey and I 10 years ago on the same week at the same hotel you say rich why are you tell me the story I'm telling this story because the way that God works is God gives you what you need when you need it I see a lot of us the reason why we don't want to operate in faith it's because we just want to know exactly what tomorrow holds we don't know what the future looks like and when I looked at that picture from 10 years ago I gotta be honest too if God would have shown me exactly everything that was gonna happen over the next 10 years in fact I was there with our staff there's about 60 of us up there in Vero Beach we're getting ready for the fourth year of vous church but if God would have shown me all of that ten years ago in Vero I think I would have ran from the call because it was gonna cost too much it was gonna be more difficult than I imagined the pain was gonna be more than I could bear yet God doesn't operate that way he says I'm gonna give you just enough I'm gonna show you just enough and then you have to operate in faith and you're gonna get stronger every step that you take you couldn't handle the full story he wants you to trust him in it and the writers like you're not backing down you're gonna persevere but the fuel for your future is faith now faith is being sure of what we hope for in certain of what we cannot see if I can see it it's not faith you said but rich why is God after faith why does he want us to have faith well the writers gonna tell you Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 he says it without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him see it's very important that you understand that faith brings pleasure to God in fact without faith it is impossible to please God why is it it's because when we activate our faith what we're showing God is that we rely more on God than we do ourselves when I come to God I'm saying God I trust you more than I trust myself I believe God that you have the answer and I want to bring pleasure to you and it pleases God when you need God the writer is gonna go and he's talking to these persecuted Christians who are wanting to go backwards and what he does is in order to take them forward he takes them back to different men and women who by faith accomplished great things he starts going through the lists of these things and it's really cool it's hebrews chapter 11 it's called the hall of faith he starts out with Abel the son of Adam and Eve he talks about Enoch Enoch was a guy who never died he was caught up into heaven the scripture says it was by faith that that happened he talks about Abraham how Abraham by faith stepped out into the unknown and it was in the unknown that God made himself known it was in the unknown that God made him the father of many nations he talks about Jacob but he talks about Isaac he talks about Joseph he talks about Moses Moses was one of the most revered people in Judaism and he says it was by faith that Moses saw the Red Sea part it wasn't Moses his strength it wasn't his performance it was by faith that God parted the Red Sea and the Israelites crossed over and they started heading towards the promised land it's faith that brings pleasure to God because when we operate in faith we're showing God that we're relying on him more than we're relying on ourselves yet sometimes this scripture can be once again taken out of context sometimes I meet believers who use this scripture and instead of this scripture of producing confidence it makes them more insecure than how they started for instance some people in life is not going good or when challenges arise or when they find themselves in a valley they quickly begin to condemn themselves and start saying oh my goodness wait a minute wait a minute maybe maybe I'm not maybe not pleasing God because maybe I don't have enough faith okay my faith is low therefore God is not pleased with me you got to be very very careful with that thinking you see the real reason why God is pleased by your faith is because faith is what produces salvation in your life and salvation is what produces sonship see the reason why you and I are saved is not because of our performance not because of our effort but rather we get saved by putting our trust and our faith into Jesus Christ then he was the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world that he died on a cruel cross then he was buried in the grave that three days later he resurrected and today he's seated at the right hand of the Father and we believe he did all the work and we're trusting in what he did and when I confess that and believe that I get saved but the best part about getting saved is that I become a son of God yet to all who received him and believed in his name not to those who achieved him it's to those who received him you see you're not a son by Worth you're a son by birth this is why Jesus would say unto you and I that we must be born again I want to really speak to our church for a moment because this idea of showing up to church that's not what makes you a son of God or a daughter of God put it on the right clothes and saying the right stuff and speaking in Christianese and being morally better than other people that doesn't make you a son of God none of that is what makes you a child of God becoming a child of God is saying it's not about behavior modification it's that I recognize that I was dead in my sin and I need Jesus to save me and set me free and I can't do one more day in this life without him he says you must be born again Paul would say you must become a new creation well you can't become a new creation on your own you become a new creation get ready by faith by faith it's like my son Wyatt you know he's almost perfect but he gets into some mischief you know he does some stuff and how many know that his condition can change but his position will never change listen to me once you're a child of God you're always a child of God why I don't know what why why is his condition can but it's but his mom gave birth to him his name is Wyatt Wesley Wilkerson that's his position in life whether you like it whether he likes it his position isn't changing and when I put my faith in Jesus I get saved but as I get saved I become a son of God and so it is true that without faith it's impossible to please God but that's true this is true with faith it's impossible to not please God with faith it's impossible to not please God some of you need to get the burden of religion off of your shoulders because your condition might have changed this past week you might have made a mistake but I want to remind you that you are a child of God and he is pleased with you he loves you he accepts you he approves of you I wish I could get a witness if you know that your condition has changed from time and time again aren't you thankful that he's never removed your position aren't you thankful that he's pleased with you today go ahead and give God some praise you're a child of God and you became a child of God because his grace was extended to you but you put your faith in Jesus and now that I operate in faith it's impossible for me not to please God you see he starts off and he's writing me saying you've got a persevere and the only way you'll persevere is with faith and you need now faith because faith is the fuel for your future but listen to me faith pleases God because faith turns you into a child of God and so if you're a child of God now I'm gonna skip over to Hebrews chapter 12 verse 7 Hebrews chapter 12 verse 7 if you're a child of God don't be surprised when God disciplines you endure hardship as discipline God is treating you as sons and daughters for what son is not disciplined by his father if you are not disciplined than you are illegitimate children and not true sons see discipline makes us stronger and a lot of you didn't realize it but that like faith is a muscle and if you don't use it you lose it and so God because you're his child he will discipline you but he's not disciplining you because he's trying to punish you he's disciplining you because he loves you it's like my son why it's 17 months almost perfect but he's he's finally kind of coming to that place where we have to discipline him and I don't like like it but it's part of my responsibility the other day we were laying in bed it was my wife and Wyatt and Wyatt had something in his hands that didn't belong in his hands and so his mother took it from his hands and I don't think he meant to but in his little 17 month you know emotional unstable self he shook and he shook and then he came down with both of his hands and he hit his mother and when I saw that I said hey boy you never seen the cable hole he never heard that tone that was it that was a new voice in his house hey hey hey look at me and why it is he's actually much smarter than you think he's so cute he totally understands what's going on and when he's getting disciplined I've learned this he doesn't want to look at me in the eyes and so he's and he's so smart that he'll try to catch me at the eyes and he'll throw a smile so but there's so Cuba my bro you charm is not gonna work here okay I say hey boy look at me Hey look at me I said we do not hit people we definitely don't hit women we definitely don't hit our mother I kept lecture I was like will this is not a we come on you better come on you're stronger meekness and self-control and core have you never read Galatians you know like and I got I looked at my said do you understand I said teamö white he goes I'm out that's what he says for I love your now I'm all I said give me a kiss and he gave me the biggest kiss on the lips I said all right go play and he ran off when I discipline him I'm not disciplining him because I want to kick him down and leave him in the dirt I'm disciplining him because I love him and I want his future to be better than his present because if he thinks I'm controlling and constricting right now he's got something else coming because if he continues that behavior he's gonna find what real control feels like as he spends his life in a prison cell because that's what happens to boys who hit girls but good news for Wyatt he has a good father who's not afraid to discipline him who's not afraid to love him who's not afraid to point him in a better direction don't mistake God's preparation as punishment it's me walking around so mad at God he's play he's not punishing you he's disciplining you it's because you decided to have now faith and you decided to please him by becoming his child and now that you're his child his hands are all over your life and he's disciplining you he's preparing you he's getting you stronger he's making use use your muscles we were in Viera as I keep telling you and one morning were getting up for breakfast and there was like this like there was this news that we weren't all aware of it but a lot of our team was able to make it down to the beach because we discovered that there was Turtles and they were hatching their turtle shells on the beach it's incredible I missed it I wanted to be there but everyone brought back videos and just so cool you know like a turtle nest on the sand a bunch of our team was down there and you know they say it takes like 48 hours or 72 hours from once the turtle hatches in the sand for them to make their way up to the top of the nest onto the beach and like you know all of our friends are out there they got their you know camera oh my goodness a little baby turtle you know it's like little and cute little turtles you know and you know if you were to see this these little turtles they come out of a nest and then they make their way to the ocean and they're gonna be the ocean for next few years as they begin to grow and when you see these little guys come out of the nest like your knee-jerk reaction is oh my goodness I want to touch them and help them they're so little and small and so people were like hey can we in the and the person that was out there that was in charge of I said hey hey do not touch the turtles do not help the turtles to the ocean they're like what do you mean he said they need to get all the auction they possibly can in their lungs and this walk from their nest to the ocean is what's gonna develop them and get them strong enough for the swim that's ahead of them I heard that I was like yo that'll preach because I firmly believe that God has called you to blew wide open oceans but I want to remind you do not discount the sand because you need your season in the sand in order for you to develop in order for you to get stronger in order for you to grow in order for you to become all that God wants you to become come on somebody give him some praise today Hebrews 12 verse 12 look at what he says he says therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees make level paths for your feet so that lame may not be disabled but rather yield these Turtles the only way that they're gonna have the strength to swim is that they can endure the sand what if I told you that your trouble is actually training you your trial is preparing you and you serve a good father and he's saying that you're gonna need faith to persevere but one of the ways that I shape your faith is by disciplining you and preparing you with challenges the ocean is what you're called to but the sand has a purpose we're gonna go back to Hebrews 11 because the writer I want you to get the context the writer is is really trying to convince these men and women not to go backwards but to move forward following Jesus and the writer has gone through you'll read it in Hebrews 11 a list of people men and women really from Abel to Noah to Enoch to Moses story after story and he says it's by their faith that they were able to progress into the future and it will require the same out of you and look at what he says hebrews chapter 11 verse 32 I want to draw your attention to these scriptures he's gone through this list of names that many the names you would know but now he says and what more shall I say I do not have time to tell about Gideon Barak Samson and jephta about David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith watch this conquered kingdoms administer justice and gain what was promised who shut the mouths of lions quench the fury of the flames and escape the edge of the sword whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies women received back their dead raised to life again I want to stop right there because most of us will as soon as we out of the word faith this is the picture that comes to our mind great faith I want the type of faith that can shut the mouths of lions God give me faith that I can reroute foreign armies God give me faith that when people pull swords at me I wouldn't back down but they would back down God take my weakness turn it into strength give me great faith God used this ordinary man to do extraordinary things and friends there is no doubt that that is what faith can do and there is no doubt that that's what great faith can look like but if we're not careful in our evangelical 2019 approach of an American lens we will reduce faith to this other word on his success but listen to me the goal is not to be successful but faithful I hope your faith leaves the success but I wonder what if your faith doesn't lead to success or so-called success so I think we get wrapped up and the teaching of the church becomes alright today series is how to shut the mouths of a lion all you need is great faith but what happens when you have great faith and the lion tears you apart because if you're gonna applaud for this part and this part I love to it's like Christian fight music but you got to continue in what he writes cuz verse 35 it gets heavy he says there were others who were tortured listeners refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection torture me I got something better coming some face jeers and flogging and even chains and imprisonment they were put to death by stoning they were sawed in two they were killed by the sword they went about in sheepskins and goatskins destitute persecuted and mistreated the world was not worthy of them the world was not worthy of them you don't even know their names they didn't get a plaque on the wall didn't get a servant leader spotlight there's not buildings named after him we don't even know their names yet the holy scripture says the world wasn't even worthy of them next slide they wandered in deserts and mountains living in caves and in holes in the ground these were all commended for their faith yet none of them some one say none of them received what had been promised since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect the worship team can come out here um I just I read this and if this doesn't convict you I don't know what else to read because so often I think that now faith means that everything's gonna turn around for me in a moment but according to this sometimes now faith means that you don't even obtain the promise in the here and now sometimes now faith means that yeah I think that you were designed for the blue ocean but guess what now faith might leave you in the sand forever why does God discipline us he disciplines us so that we can make it into the promised land he's required and called us to but he also disciplines us because he wants us to be strong enough to endure even if we don't see the promise in this lifetime why because true faith is not about the promise it's about the promise giver that's what the whole book of Hebrews is about it's radical it's a heavy talk at 12:15 on a Sunday before brunch but that that's what he's saying he said don't you dare give up I'm not discounting your heartache what I'm trying to do is point you that you're not the first to be here in that which scares you and that's what intimidates you recognize there's some partners that have gone before you and that you're standing on their shoulders and many of them but the world was not even worthy of we don't even know their name and you're over here quitting and giving up because you haven't been celebrated or recognized enough nah saw me in - I'm good know what how strong do your legs have to be - to say stone me I'm not backing down I'm not going back it's because true faith is not about a breakthrough moment and it's not about a deliverance and true faith is not about a miracle true faith is about the one who provides the miracle true faith is about the deliverer true faith is about the promise giver I want to be more caught up in him than I am with what he can do for me you see if you have Jesus you've already won Jesus is our prize Jesus gave me everything therefore nobody owes me anything if Jesus doesn't do one more thing for you the rest of your life you already have enough I don't know what the rest of your life will look like but I know that if you will stand firm and if you will endure I promise you this life is but a vapor and we all have too much stock in it but if we remove the distraction if we open up our ear towards heaven we would recognize that there is something greater there's a greater promise and it's far beyond this earth now faith is being sure of what we hope for certain of what we cannot see I can have faith because I'm not living for this world so things can happen to me but it doesn't mean that I still can't see what is unseen doesn't mean I can't be sure of what I hope for my faith pleases God because I'm his son and now that I'm his son it's impossible for me not to please God my conditions they come and go but my position remains the same and his love for me is what creates my love for him and because I'm his son I'm allow him to discipline me I'm not gonna quit because every trial I face I'm gonna go God's left me he's punishing me now he just he's preparing me and I hope we can close some Lions mouths I'm gonna claim that and I'm gonna speak that but I pray that we would be a church that if he called us to be tortured for him I pray that we would stand firm and say I already got my reward I already got my prize his name is Jesus Christ [Applause] so then how should we how should we live I want to draw your attention to Hebrews chapter 12 I want to show you the first five verses because I think it's a prescription for all of us operating in faith Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses who is this cloud of witnesses this is the minimum that have gone before us we're not new Bhutan's in our hands but we're not new let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles what's he saying he said anything that's gonna become an obstacle anything that's gonna stop you from running the race that God has called you to you should get rid of it you should not even let that be there man and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us watches fixing our eyes on Jesus the Pioneer and perfecter of faith this is like the whole book of Hebrews like he's trying to simplify that which feels so complicated yet every time you complicate it you become complacent he's saying don't be complacent fix your eyes on Jesus make it about Jesus and run your race for the joy set before him he endured the cross scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God consider him someone say consider him consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart that you will not grow weary and lose heart if doing good was easy you wouldn't grow weary you're gonna grow weary but the prescription from the writer is that when you grow weary don't just sing about it and don't just talk about it but when you grow weary stop and consider him who's him Jesus who did what who went through pain and suffering who died a sinner's death that you might be set free and that you might be resurrected not necessarily in this lifetime but in the life that is to come when you feel like giving up consider him and keep moving forward that little verse that sticks out to me is at the beginning and it says therefore since you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses I love that thought process the scripture tells us in Psalms that as the mountains surround Jerusalem so our God surrounds his people God surrounds you today he goes before you behind you he is around you but it's not just God that surrounds you it's the men and women who have laid their life down to push this message forward that they are there at the finish line and they are cheering you on and they are shouting you are surrounded you're not in this thing by yourself when I was in high school um there was this girl I liked and so I joined the cross-country team to be close to her not proud of it but it's very true and I was only on the cross-country team for a half a semester they even make it away through my first race I was uh I started out I never knew three miles could be so long and there was this wooded area where nobody could see you and I got into the wooded area and sitting on the wooded area I had totally I gave up I quit I put my hands on my knees and said I am this is not um no girl is worth this I quit I give up and I I quit in the woods people running by me as I don't care I was walking I don't care running for fun is not part of my purpose but when I came out of this wooded area I didn't anticipate this happening but when I came out this way I'll never forget it there was like a hundred people at the finish line and like all of my team was at the finish line and they began to cheer and they begin to celebrate and I don't know what came over me but I was like yo I just caught a second wind I started running like I was Prefontaine or something you know like this is my moment you know I could hear Chariots of Fire theme music in the background you know how many know that you run different when you're being watched then when you are alone Zach can only do a minute in the cold plunge by himself but together we go three minutes because there's power in partnership and my story is is that I'm four generations a Pentecostal preacher there's men and women that have gone before me and my family than her heroes in the faith and when I think about quitting when I grow weary when I when I want to go backwards many times it's like I can hear their voice and they're speaking to me from heaven I think about my Aunt Marie who gave 25 years of her life living in a hut in Africa as a missionary you don't know her name nobody knows her name but the world was not worthy of her life I think about my uncle mark plantain who took his family and went to Calcutta India and began to be a missionary on in a third world space they built a hospital that today is like it's still there it's ministering to thousands of people every day when he died in his will he asked that he'd be buried in India I think about my uncle David Wilkerson who started the Time Square Church who who led a revival in New York City when gang warfare and drug addiction was at an all-time high who literally saw most of his ministry began with a switchblade held to his throat and he did not back down from a gang leader it was like shutting the mouth of a lion it was like hey I'm not backing down and from it it created this revival and although he's gone and although he's not living when I get weary it's like I can hear his voice and rich you're not called to convenience you're called to conviction my grandfather Fulton Bunton he pastored the same church for 42 years that's an accomplishment in itself 42 years with the same people he's passed away now but I can hear his voice from heaven he's to always say rich it's always too soon to quit the only time you fail is the last time you try tough times don't last tough people do I hear his voice hit him saying you are surrounded run your race get your faith back keep moving maybe you hear there you go but rich that's not my story man like I don't have great people in my family that laid their life down and spread the message I don't know anybody else who's a Christian in fact I'm a first-generation Christian in fact rich this is the only church I've ever been to and I'm kind of just having a hard time when I hear you tell me that story now it all makes sense now I get why you can get up there every week and give all these messages and you always seem to have so much great faith it's because that's in your family that's in your bloodline that's who you are man now I get it that's not me though but Frank can I remind you that if this is the first church you've ever belonged to if you're a first generation Christian Carrio mind you that when you put your faith in Jesus you became a son of God which means that you now can experience a spiritual inheritance you have been grafted in to the family of God and you are a part of a faith legacy whether you know it or not you're not new this is something all that's been going on so strengthen your feeble legs don't back down from the pressure keep the faith move forward because you might not have an aunt or an uncle and you might not have a mom or a dad but if you don't put up your ears all of heaven is hanging around the Bannister and they're shouting at you and they're cheering you on and they're declaring you are surrounded therefore since there is a great cloud of witnesses we don't need to back down I can hear Noah today and he's shouting at you if God told you to build it whether it's big or small you build it I can hear Abraham the father of faith and he's saying if God tells you to step out even if it appears to be unknown rest assured it's in the dark places it's in the unknown places that God will show up and we'll make himself known I hear Isaac this young man and he's shouting at you he was willing to lay his life down on an altar but thank God a ram showed up in the thicket but I can hear him as he shouts at you and I saying do not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God you are surrounded don't give up I can hear Jacob a man who has sin after sin after sin mistake after mistake after mistake but he shouts at you and me and he says let me tell you one there is no mistake too big for God's grace you get up and to remind yourself you are surrounded I hear Moses Moses had a stuttering problem he had an earthly limitation but he would shout now with full voice and he would tell you do not let your earthly limitation stop you from believing in a supernatural God who's never had a limit on him I can hear Joseph and he shouts at you and he says yo if you got favored on your life baby you might find yourself in a pit you might find yourself in a prison you might find yourself in a palace but in all three places the presence of God will never leave you you are surrounded I hear Esther she's saying you're here for such a time as this I hear Samson hey homie be careful that girl is poison I hear Gideon he's shouting at you he says you are a mighty warrior you're a great woman of God I hear Joshua he says if you keep on marching the walls eventually are gonna come on down don't quit marching [Music] but more than any of those voices I hear a Lord and Savior Jesus Christ he says in this world you will face trouble but take heart someone say take heart but take heart I have already overcome the world I don't know about you but today I want to remind you you are surrounded God has never left you God has never forsaken you today is a day of now faith we press on we move forward God is up to something come on if you believe it lift your hands come on lift your voice come on sit down

Channel: VOUS Church

Views: 18,640

Rating: 4.9260631 out of 5

Keywords: rich wilkerson jr, vous church, vous, hebrews, summer, miami, florida, surrounded

Id: Kgz2aroNzCM

Length: 46min 15sec (2775 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 05 2019