Rich Wilkerson, Jr. — The Art of Bothering God / Miracle in Motion

Luke chapter 18 verse 1 then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up everyone say always he said in a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea grant me justice against my adversary for some time he refused but finally he said himself even though I don't fear God or care what people think yet because this Widow keeps bothering me I will see that she gets justice so that she won't eventually come and attack me the Lord said listen to what the unjust judge says and will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night will he keep putting them off I tell you he will see that they get justice and quickly however when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth and I want to preach night from the subject the art of bothering God the art of bothering God I believe is gonna be a word for your life so would you pray with me now as we come around the scripture loli thank you so much that you brought us to church thank you so much Lord for what you're doing in our church we thank you for an incredible Sunday and Lord here we are at the end of our day we pray now Lord that you would do something in our lives we believe that you always save the best for last so God speak to us we love you we praise you in all of God's people said come on all of God's people said hey come on a p.m. if you love Jesus can you help me make some noise come on hallelujah anybody out there have somebody in your life who just bothers you some of you acting way too Christian at a p.m. someone who's just kind of annoys you perturbs you troubles you just just causes anxiety anyone got that person right next to you right now dodo put put your hands down breaking up relationships as we preach yeah I was home for the holidays and when I say home I was in Don Cherry's home Shreveport Louisiana and Don Sri has got five brothers five younger brothers and aunts Trina we actually met when we were 17 years of age started dating at 17 been doing a lot of life together in fact really her brothers are like my real brothers so we just we grew up together and we actually mean doctor we met at church by the way look down your row right now anybody you like who knows happen for me it can happen for you and Don Sri or her brothers are awesome but like it's kind of annoying because they're all really good-looking they're all really smart they're all incredible athletes and all that to say that's annoying and one brother in particular his name his name is David Dee and David he actually lives in Miami now he's actually my crew leader I'll be at his crew tomorrow night wine would shout out anyways um he's my crew leader and the thing about David do that like would always bug me we were younger is that he's like six or seven years younger than me but he's better than me at every sport and when he would beat me in sports he didn't just beat me he would taunt me yeah you may be like this that's just like this it's not satisfying just winning they wanna they want to rub the win in it so we be playing ping pong this kid's like 12 years old braces sticking out of his mouth do you uh you just be crushing me oh my dude you haven't even hit puberty yet I will take every armpit hair and those braces you shut your mouth in the name of Jesus any competitive people announcer oh the competitive people like I'm a competitive person like if I'm gonna do something I'm out for blood I'm out for a victory I don't want a ribbon I want a championship all right like if I'm gonna do it I'm a doing like what is that voice I don't know huh but but David he like didn't matter you like he would taunt me and I would get so bothered he would cause the greatest reactions out of me now I thought that as I've matured in the Lord that I've graduated from this and I'm leading a church now Chino were senior pastors but I was playing tennis against David Dee last week in this dude once again he started beating me but he wasn't okay with just beating me he was taunting me I got so frustrated I quit the game I didn't speak to him for two days come on any sore losers and how was the sore losers know every time he bothers me or hears it would create a a reaction out of me I pray for me I need help I know I'm going to counsel him for it I'm gonna overcome and we all got struggles don't judge mine but but but David Dee he's taught me something and that is that many times when I get bothered it's when I get bothered that I tend to react you said rich what are you trying to say what I believe is I believe that sometimes change doesn't happen until people get bothered like like you won't change anything until it bothers you enough well you could talk about change you can pray about change you can sing about you you can preach about change but if you keep tolerating it you won't change it it's until you get irritates until you get annoyed it's until you come to a place to say enough is enough I'm not going one more step like this I am frustrated I am annoyed I am bothered and because I'm bothered I'm fixing to change something some of you in this place you need to get bothered go throughout scripture I mean it wasn't until Pharaoh got bothered by ten plagues that he finally made a change in letting the Israelites go Acts chapter 16 tells a story of Paul and Silas they're preaching and everywhere they go and they preach this little demon-possessed girl and she follows them around and she's causing distraction day after day there she is shouting when Paul's trying to preach the Bible says in Acts chapter 16 that Paul gets annoyed gets annoyed he's like hey you messed it up my sermon demon come out you know and in one moment something changed why cuz he got bothered I look around our city and like I hope some of the stuff that I'm seeing is bothering you because until you get bothered by it you won't be inspired to change it I think injustice in our city should bother our church I think racism in our city should still bother our church I think depression in our city should bother you I think suicide should bother you I think poverty should bother you I think homelessness should bother you I think sex trafficking in our city on our watch that should bother us why because until we get bothered we're not gonna do anything about it [Applause] motivation comes from all sorts of everything's vision will create motivation let me tell you frustration will create motivation either you change because you see a brighter future or you change because you are sick and tired of the status quo some of us tonight it's not until we get bothered that we're gonna change anything and it's really helping me set up what I want to talk to you about tonight because I titled this talk the art of bothering God because I believe that until you learn the art of bothering God you're never gonna step into the change that you could be experiencing I believe that when you learn to start bothering God there's God results there's um impotent outcomes that are in store waiting for you you just have to learn the art to bothering God you just have to bother God to a point that he reacts so we had this theme for our church in this theme for our church is this miracle in motion what a miracle emotion means is it means that God is doing something whether I can see it whether I can taste it whether I can feel it I believe he's up to something and I can't start the miracle I create the miracle all I can do is steward the miracle and some of you you've been coming to church and you're hearing this preacher going yes food church is a miracle in motion yet you failed to remember that vous Church is you and because vous Church is you in food Church is a miracle in motion that means your life is a miracle in motion some of you tonight you're in store for a breakthrough some of you came in the night with pain in your life some of you are here right now go my marriage is on the rocks I don't know if it's gonna make it I don't know if this relationship is gonna last I need restoration I need healing something right now you're sick in your body you are waiting on God for a miracle and I'm here to tell you your life is a miracle in motion you just got to learn how to bother God so you see what happens to us is that many times when things don't change on our timetable we back away many times we don't get the results that we want we start convincing ourselves that hey maybe God has other plans or hey maybe God doesn't want this thing for me in fact many of you oh man well preacher someone tonight some of you you're actually saying out loud to people I'm just waiting on God but really as you say you're just waiting on God in actuality you're not asking God for anything come on APM let's just let's just finish this night strong let's just clap together let's just shout together let's just go there together let's build our faith together I'm waiting on God which means a K I'm doing nothing while you wait on God you can continue to ask things from God you can continue to approach God you can continue to bother God you see what happens as many times is that when you don't see the change that you want when you're not getting the results that you what you want you start to believe some silly stuff in one case you might start to believe that you know what maybe maybe my requests maybe my dreams maybe my plans maybe my hopes my dreams my wants maybe these things are too small for God and God is too busy to deal with them Oh back away or even worse some of you you have adopted this philosophy that y'all Mobe cuz I don't want to bother God with my requests yet what if I told you not the thing that you think is bothering God in actuality is blessing God what if I told you God wants to be bothered God wants to be bothered and you going rich I show it to me I must show it to you because it's not my service Jesus's sermon Jesus this is his principal it he's teaching us in Luke chapter 18 fact Jesus he wants to make it very clear what he's teaching you about he says I want to teach you to pray always and never give up so here's what you're gonna find on the faith journey because I know there's lot of people in our church that you're new to faith you new to Christianity what will happen is there will come these moments on your Christian walk where you will come to these crossroads where you've been praying you've been believing you've been confessing you've been declaring you've been hoping you've been wanting yet there hasn't been any change there hasn't been a new result so you'll come to these crossroads and you'll be plagued with the question when do I stick and when do I quit when is enough enough when do I give up on this when do I throw the towel in so here's the good news the good news is if you've walked into vu church tonight and you fall into any category of your life where you're in a spot right now were you like I don't know if I should keep dreaming that I don't know if I should keep praying that I don't know if I should keep hoping for that because it's been a long long time and I don't really know maybe just maybe I'm bothering God and God is busy doing something else if you ever found yourself there or if you are there right now this is Jesus's sermon for you Jesus has an answer for you Jesus has some hope for you Jesus wants to put some faith in your life come on somebody take five seconds right now give God some praise in this place she says I want to teach you how to pray always and never given up so what does he do Jesus classic Jesus he takes complex questions and gives us simple parables he tells us a story tells a story about a widow who's in need of justice the only problem is is that the only one that can grant her justice is an unjust judge now we don't know a lot about these characters let me just write to break them down because we know two things about each one of the cares number one the judge we know that he doesn't fear God and we know that he doesn't have any compassion or care towards humanity how many know that's called double trouble Jude doesn't fear God do doesn't acknowledge God he doesn't care if he breaks God's will he doesn't even acknowledge if God does have a will but then to add even more to it he doesn't care about humanity he doesn't care about people so here's a man who's got authority but no accountability and he's being talked about in the story because he represents evil and he represents wicked then on the other side we've got this Widow now you need to know that Middle Eastern culture 2,000 years ago being a woman meant that you were a second-class citizen I'm not saying that that's just what history shows us but if you want to go double trouble you got to be a widow because the only influence or affluence you could have as a woman is the one that's connected to the husband that you have and so this woman her husband has died and now she's got double trouble because any inheritance that he would have had it would have been transferred to either his brother or her oldest son meaning this woman is at the mercy of her brother-in-law or her son so what would happen in this time period is there would be these local judges that would handle civil disputes so here's a woman who's a widow whose society is overlooking who culture does not care about she has a need she has a request and she has to bring it to a man who's evil and the Bible says she keeps showing up and every time she shows up this guy refuses to grant her mercy yet notice what the text says finally after she just continues and she just continues and she just shows up again again and again the Bible finally says that the man he doesn't have compassion for her he doesn't have mercy for her he doesn't have an awakening epiphany with God no the Bible says that this unjust judge because he's so bothered by the woman she is so irritated him that he finally reacts and says fine take your justice she bothered her way to a blessing I'm a bother you too you bless me I might irritate you until you react like okay rich that's like kind of a cool story like and I agree it was like just one little parable I might not like take all this time tonight to try to teach you this but it's not just one little parable you go seven chapters back to Luke chapter 11 guess what Jesus is telling the same freakin story just different characters this is what he says in Luke chapter Levin here oh this is I like this one Luke chapter 11 he tells the same story about two different characters he talks about two friends one friend is on the inside of the house and he goes to bed at night with all of his kids and all of a sudden there's a friend on the outside of the house the front of the outside of house comes the door knocks on the door says hey friend yo wake up I know it's midnight but I need some bread he all got some friends that show up at late hours gonna give me stuff Bible says the friend of the insides like no too late I'm asleep come back tomorrow friend on the outside the house keeps knocking he says no I want bread now in front of the insides like yo my kids are in bed with me and we're a sleeve it's the middle of the night leave me alone you're annoying in front of the outside the house just keeps knocking it says okay well I'm gonna keep knocking until you get up watching the scripture says the scripture says the man on the inside of the house he gets up not because he's a good friend not because they're BFFs that's not why it gets up he gets up and brings the man the bread because of the man on the outside his shameless audacity I like that word shameless audacity in my faith life I want to be a person who has shameless audacity anybody anybody got a friend who the only way you can define them is by saying they have shameless audacity I think everybody's got that one friend you like dude like okay man that's called shameless right there I have this one friend like Micah define him as shameless audacity like if we go to a concert I don't know how he does it he's gonna somehow end up backstage at the concert anyone got that friend it's like somehow how'd you get back there you know shameless audacity history store one time he took me the heat game you can't make this stuff up he's like hey bro I got us floor seats I was like let's go god is good favorite fare a miracle your do believe and I don't have to pray about that yeah go so we get we sit on the floor at the Miami Heat the whole first half we're on the floor yeah the third quarter this dude walks up to me and says hey man you're sitting in my seat I was like nah man these are my seats I look at my ticket for the first time we don't have floor seats were seated in the 100 level I am absolutely in but I'm so sorry I look at my franco's wasn't that awesome I'm humiliated he's exhilarated shameless audacity he was more pumped about sitting on the floor for a 1/2 on my bro that's not cool he's like man it was awesome we sat on the floor for the heat I go dude it was illegal but we did it huh shameless audacity that this dude gets up out of bed not because they're great friends but because of this man's shameless audacity to not stop knocking the unjust judge does not have an awakening with God does not have an epiphany does not all of a sudden have compassion for Humanity and start singing let's you know heal the world know he gets bothered by this woman now it's important when Jesus tells parables you should always do this you got actual questions okay I know Jesus is telling parables and I know like I'm somebody in this story anybody that you're like okay wait a minute you're talking here all these riddles and stuff like okay which guy am i and so like you look at your okay I think I'm the widow like that's to me like yeah I'm the widow like I'm seeking justice here I am help me out I'm the dude who wants bread okay gimme bread so if I'm the widow if I'm the friend on the outside who's God in this story Jesus are you saying God like the unjust judge are you saying like God like the cranky old friend on the inside of the house she's like yeah that's exactly who God is now before you get freaked out you know wait a minute God's not unjust and God's not a cranky old friend on the inside you're absolutely right Jesus is telling a story and this is called dramatic effect and he's telling this story because he wants to create a thing called contrast he's trying to show you major major contrast and he's trying to build your faith all at the same moment what is he saying he's saying that this unjust judge will get up because he's bothered by this woman how much more will your heavenly Father who's full of mercy full of grace full of faith for your life how much more will he come to your aid when you come to him with a request Jesus isn't some friend on the inside no he's a friend who sticks closer than a brother he's the God who walks with us he's the God who doesn't sleep nor slumber whenever you come to him he has an answer for you I love that Jesus uses the word bother though because think about all the words he could have chosen to use well I think about bother I just think negative connotations yeah I think Jesus uses the word bother on purpose well build someone's faith tonight I think he uses this word on purpose there's a reason why he's using this word he's not suggesting to you and I that when we come to him with our requests that were bothering him it's not what he's saying in fact you can't bother God he's saying the opposite to you I think he's using the word bother because he wants to give you a practical handle he wants to give you a word that will make sense with the feeling that you have he's telling you I want you to be persistent so weak okay God you want me to be persistent but how persistent should I be I think God would look back you should be persistent to the point that you feel like you're bothering me so if you've walked into this place the night and you're stand rich should I keep believing it's been five years I would simply ask you do you feel like you're bothering God well not really I would say keep believing it rich I've been I've been declaring this thing for like it's like ten years man like you think I should keep declaring this thing like should I quit this thing should I stop this thing I would say you feel like you're bothering God like sort of well sort of means you're on to something because the art of bothering God is one word the word is persistence [Applause] I don't know what it is but there's something about you God that he's honored by your persistence you see if being trustworthy starts your miracle and if worry wrecks your miracle you can bank on it persistence produces your miracle come on are there any persistent people in the house I'm not giving up I'm not gonna stop I'm getting back up I'm showing up again I'm a pray again I'm a believe again I'm gonna declare again I'm not stopping I'm gonna bother God until God blesses me come on 8:00 p.m. make some noise if you know what I'm talking about if you don't care to ask God constantly why do you expect God to respond faithfully why do you expect him to focus on something that you won't even ask him for the arts of bothering God means God will persist I'm not backing down how much should i persist how much should I be tenacious to the point that you feel like you're bothering him if you don't feel like you're bothering him I would tell you then you're not persisting I love that story of Jacob in the Old Testament God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Jesus came from the lineage of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Jacob out of all those guys man he was he was the grandson of Abraham he was the son of Isaac but Jacob man he was a liar he stole his blessing he did a lot of bad things made a lot of mistakes yet still somehow in all of it God's mercy and His grace was on his life and there's a beautiful story of Jacob as he falls asleep and he wakes up in the middle of the night and there he begins to wrestle with the angel of the Lord and it's funny cuz as you read the story the angel Lords like let me go Jacob and Jacobs like nope I'm not letting you go until you bless me they wrestled till daybreak Jacob said no I know the art of bothering God and that is I'm not I'm not leaving I'm hanging on the Bible says those that wait in the Lord shall renew their strength you know what waiting on God looks like it looks like I'm not moving I'm staying right here I'm knocking I'm stomping I'm believing there's a miracle on the other side of me bothering you I'm gonna bring this request to the point where I feel like I'm irritating you I'm gonna pray this pram will believe this thing until I get to the point that I feel like I'm annoying you God because God I cannot control your performance all I can control is my persistence how much some persists I'm gonna pray we'll believe I'm a request I'm gonna believe that my persistence is what's going to produce miracles in my life see our life is a miracle in motion and we start by saying God I want to be trustworthy miracles start happening God you can trust with the good the bad the ugly God you can trust me with favor God you can trust me with blessing but God you can trust me with suffering God you can trust me with hurt you can trust me with failure you can trust me with betrayal God I'm gonna trust you and because I trust you you can trust me but God I'm also not gonna sit around and worry about all the things you're doing in my life way too many miracles way too many things for me to count I'm not gonna sit around and worry one more moment and wreak some miracles but God I realize that if I'm gonna get to my breakthrough I'm gonna have to learn the art of bothering you i'ma bother you until you bless me imma wrestle with you until you bless me there's two things that persistent people know and there's two things that you need to know and there's two things that we need to know as a church if we're gonna be a church that's persistent the first thing about persistent people is persistent people that they know this they know that your gain is in your again your gain is in your again I want you to write that down your gain is in your again 2017 started in January I guess earlier this year and I decided this year in 2017 January I said this is gonna be I just I just declare this gonna be the most productive year of my life and what I meant by that was to say I don't want to waste one moment I want to I want to produce more I want to be more effective want to be more efficient I don't want to waste any time I want to be the best version that I can be the goal is not perfection the goal is progress and so I got a lot of things I need to work on but I want to make sure that 2017 was a year of growth for me by the way if you haven't started your 2017 New Year's resolutions yet there's still time baby it's only November it's not about how you starts about how you finish holler at your boy people getting blessed and one of the things I just I was gonna do is I was gonna go to the gym and so um I decided to go the jaw was gonna go weakly I was gonna go I guess multiple times in the week and the problem for me but going to the gym is that like I am so good at creating excuses as to why I shouldn't go to the gym I don't know any ones like me like I there's been I could count lots of times that I've gotten fully dressed put my whole outfit on drove my car to the gym walked into the gym walked through the gym said you know what today is not my day left the gym that's ridiculous you know stupid stuff could make me have a reason I thought I'll tell you what I got the wrong shoes on today you know forgot my water bottle like whatever it was but like that was just like the start it got worse because like literally like you know people say like showing ups half the battle I just get there and like that'll be that wasn't true for me because I would get there I would start my workout I'd be like 15 minutes in quitting like nah I'm done I'd be thirty five minutes in like I don't think I'm called to this you know like I just I kept having these discussions in my mind that I would just quit quitting I would I just kept quitting over and over and over again finally after about three months of going to the gym I came to this place I was like okay I settled that in my spirit I get it I got a I got a show up I can do that part but it must be like month four I don't have you ever been before month for a brand new excuse entered into my psyche a good reason why I should quit the gym month four I got upset because I said you know what I'm not seeing any gains after four months of being here you know what I mean my gains right improvements progress I looked at my train on my y'all bro I've been here for three and a half months where's my six-pack once he gains man probably been here for three and a half months how come I can't run a six-minute mile give me gangs three and a half months bras should be able to bench 250 give me Gaines dog which is like hilarious right cuz like I've spent 33 years of my life dedicating it to what eating bad watching movies and hardly going outside and now I've given three months three days a week to the gym and I expect so much out of my investment reminds me of people in charge people come to church it's been three weeks god I've been here for three weeks I want some gains yo come on done you guys are acting so spiritual tonight come on how come I can't hear your voice God I've been coming to this church for four weeks give me gains God what I've been coming to church eight weeks now and I'm still struggle with that temptation are you even real Gimme Gimmes have you ever considered that you just spent the last twenty seven years of your life dedicating it to clubs and debauchery and now you expect after three weeks of being in church for God to provide some games in your life come on there's levels to this thing man I want ganks give me games you know what a good trainer would tell you if you came to him and said you want you want gains he would look back and say okay we can do that you just got to come again I want gains all right show up again tomorrow I want more games okay come again tonight you come with your faith and you're saying god I want to hear from you God says come into your prayer closet again god I want fresh revelation open up your Bible again God I want to step into your presence worship again ask again believe again trust again worship again come on say sorry again believe again your name is in your again come on somebody give God a shout of praise you want Gaines do it again do it again and again and again and again and again I want us to be a church that we get consumed with doing small stuff again again and again and before you know it we're going to gain persistent people they understand this they understand that our gains are found in our again just doing it again you want something just do it again do it again do it again have you ever wondered this is fun have you ever wondered what your reputation is like to God let's close and pray I'll see you next week like right like coma hot like I know come on I'm preaching to you like you're a believer come on you know like that you ever wonder like what is your reputation or looks like let's take on it what's your reputation like to everyone around you you ever wonder where your reputation comes from see what what's amazing to me is in Luke chapter 18 like you got it you can't miss it cuz that gets kind of weird but like I want to skip it I didn't want to preach about it but like I had to address it and that is we see this whole exchange with this woman she just keeps bothering this judge but but notice what what the judge says the judge says I'm gonna grant her mercy justice because she keeps bothering me but also because I don't want her to attack me who was this woman what was her reputation but something tells me she has some priors or something why did this judge think that this woman might attack him something tells me that this woman had a reputation i'ma get justice Alma cut you she was tenacious she was bold she was courageous she had some past experiences where he was able to witness the trajectory of her life the rhythm of her life and he said this woman she's gonna bother me until I grant her mercy until I grant her justice I don't want any problem with this woman she has a reputation listen to me repetition creates reputation I said again repetition creates reputation so if you don't like your reputation just check your repetition because that would you repeat in your life it will be the thing that you become known for in life let me help you a little bit more come on my help some people in second here there's some things in life that aren't worth repeating everything you ever just feel like man like my life is a vicious cycle it's because you keep repeating some of the same stuff if you want a new outcome you have to make a new decision you can't get new results doing the same old thing and so it's like this it's like if you keep repeating drama your reputation will be drama queen let's not leave out the guys drama King holler at your boy I don't know what happened in 2017 but I've never men are more emotional in 2017 than they've ever been in the history of mankind it's a roller coaster ride with some of these men don't offend me rich come on stop bro go to the 9:15 I don't say anything mean at 9:15 [Applause] if you keep repeating gossip don't be surprised when your reputation is gossip train why because repetition creates reputation if you keep repeating substance abuse don't be surprised if your reputation is added if you keep repeating fear don't be surprised if your reputation is coward see persistent people they have learned that the art to bothering God it starts with my gain coming from what I'm doing again again and again and again and as I create a reputation with God and others it comes from the things that I'm repeating some things are not worth repeating but other things are worth repeating I want to pray big prayers I want to repeat big prayers over and over and over again because I want a reputation that I'm a man who's persistent like I got some pray like this would be fun this is homework for this week you need to have somewhere in your prayer journal in your Bible you need to have like your top four your top five prayer requests that are laughable like if it doesn't make you laugh go bigger actually pray something that won't just change your life but will actually change the world so get something that like do you have any these like I got a couple of big requests that like you're kind of like it's kind of private you know like don't look at this you know like cuz you know effect your homeboy saw it they bye dude like really you taking time for there that's a bother yeah that's the point that's the point like I had this one request like one year into our church I started praying I just believe and I'm asking how well by does God I think that vous Church is supposed to be a church of a hundred thousand people in Florida alone I know somethin gonna walk out like gonna need a bigger middle school yeah I know I get it I know you're right there's a couple buildings in town I Drive by him I see him I just I did today I was in my in my lunch break ten minutes um I saw one dick governor's with me I saw I said look that's ours I'm repeating that prayer the bill we don't have we can't we can't buy it it's impossible it's laughable it's hilarious to actually consider it's silly to take time it almost seems as if as I pray it that it would be a waste of God's time because it's so big and why would I deserve a blessing like that but I don't know I read these stories and I just think maybe just maybe if I knock long enough maybe just maybe the friend who sticks closer than any brother he might just get up out of the bed and say yo I got some bread for you what in your life is worth repeating because repetition creates reputation I want to repeat giving I want a reputation of being generous I want to repeat honesty I want a reputation of being trustworthy I want to repeat worship I want a reputation of being a man in God's presence I want to repeat Scripture because I want a reputation of a man who's full of faith that what you repeat will create your reputation and people who are persistent they understand that if you want gains you got to do it again do it again again again again again someone say do it again do it again and do it again do it again do it again because that's where the game comes from III don't know how to get miracles all I know is that God is calling me to be persistent how persistent to the point that I feel like I'm bothering him Here I am knocking Here I am bothering you again I believe if I can bother you enough you might just react to this request that I have it's not that persistent people understand that that your gain is in your again secondly only to write this down this gonna help somebody this week secondly it's simply this is that is that persistent people they understand that no is a part of the process this is so good no is a part of the process the faith journey is a process it's a process a process of becoming like Jesus saved and justified in one moment sanctified daily sanctified weekly I must die daily that Christ might rise up in me there's a promise in front of me but I've got to walk through the process to reach the promise the only problem with that thinking is that once I reach that promise there's going to be another promise in the future and I'm gonna have to walk through the process again so I might as well just learn to love the process I might as well just learn to love to climb because once I get to one mountaintop I'm gonna realize it's another climb to the next mountaintop in in that climb and in that process you're gonna face a lot of nose but quit being afraid of no quit stopping at no quit quitting at no some of you you're doubting you've given up your faith all because you got a no but see persistent people they understand knows a part of the process this no today this is me is no tomorrow have you ever learned this in your life no today does not always mean no tomorrow something you should just go that's what I came for tonight I was home in Louisiana with Don trees family and we've got all these beautiful nieces they're so incredible and one of my nieces she's awesome she's three years of age her name's juju I call her juju on the beat and and juju loves to sing and there's this song that my mother-in-law wrote it's called the best buddies and goes we're gonna be the best buddies that this world's ever seen I love it and it's funny I've known juju since she was born and every time I come into town it's like I got a wind juju over again she's always playing hard to get I gotta be like hey you know come on I'm your favorite uncle give her money give her gifts whatever it takes and I got in town on Tuesday and I saw juju I said juju uncle rich loves you and she's like backing me she said no which is a very rude response when someone says I love you now okay well hey dude you could could you sing the best buddiez song for me no juju come on like just come on sing the song it's uncle rich no no no three years old I said you jus I just flew all the way from Miami to Louisiana to hear you sing that song sing the song she goes no no no no no no no no no no no I said little girl you are extra I was Tuesday sorry again Wednesday juju no Thursday juju no no no Friday juju girl come on can you sing it no I said you do do you know any other words other than no she said no but on Saturday before I left I was at the house and I saw a little juju going in her playroom I saw her come out of the playroom she's all alone so I cornered her I said juju uncle rich loves you she looked at me there was no one else around she looked at me I said she'd you please before I leave could you please sing the best buddy song and she's gearing up to look back at me and give me the biggest know she's ever given and she looks back and she's getting ready to say no I said juju please she goes we're gonna be the best buddies if this was ever seen we'll stay two together I said girl it's the best song I ever heard my entire life you say say rich why you why tell me story I'm telling you the story because no today doesn't mean no tomorrow I'm telling you the story because it's a really basic simple parable that I asked and I asked and I asked and I asked and it was no no no no no no no no no no and then all of a sudden was okay yeah and persistent people they understand that every no you receive just means you're one step closer to a yes persistent people that they know that just because you hear no today doesn't mean you're not gonna hear yes tomorrow don't run from it don't back down get back up face it keep going keep believing it was funny is that no backwards is the word on I love that God did you say no did you say it's on cuz I'm believing as I bother and I believe as I persist that you can take that which I keep hearing is know and you can all of a sudden declare it's on it's on I'm not so naive to know that tonight that people who are in this room that have been believing or praying for things and I'm not trying to give you a false hope and I'm not suggesting the night that God is impressed with your effort that God is impressed with your energy or your striving now here's the truth the truth is that you could pray for certain things and God's will will prevail God will respond to you yes no maybe later what we as believers have to do is that we don't get to control God's response we just get to control our requests and God's job is to perform the miracle my job is to persist and prepare for a miracle to come about here's what I've learned about God I've learned that when I show persistence in one area ultimately it will show me resistance in another area so a rich I don't understand this is important that you see this because the reason why I can come up here tonight bold and I can proclaim this to you and I can say I believe this is the scripture and the reason why I think you should go back and keep believing and keep praying and show tenacity and keep showing grit and not giving up and not quitting is because I know this about God that when you get persistent in an area even if he says no ultimately he's going to show you resistance in another area I've learned and I've seen so many times God I'm praying I'm believing and I'm focused and I'm confessing and while I'm praying for this thing God will redirect me and show me the real thing that I needed it the real thing that I wanted and I'll say thank God you showed me areas of my life that were full of restriction that I hadn't surrendered to you see when you start praying persistently one of two things is going to happen gods either gonna give you your miracle or he's gonna change you and both are valuable both are all win what today have you given up on just because you heard a no because the truth is of being trustworthy starts the miracle and if worry wrecks the miracle its persistence that produces the miracle I grew up in a Christian home and I went to Christian school in elementary school and kindergarten our first day of class they would ask us anyone have any prayer requests I remember this girl next to me she put her hand up high her name was Heather she said yes I have one they said Heather what's your question I just want a horse so just praying for a horse we're all like really you know huh that's cool like Monday first day kindergarten praying for the horse but but Tuesday came Heather horse Wednesday Heather's got her hand up um just really believing for a horse in this season she prayed that prayer every week for the prayer every month she prayed that prayer all year long we graduated the first grade first high school Heather yes hi um how are you class just asking the Lord for a horse every day all year long second grade Heather horse still waiting on my horse third grade horse fourth grade I just I love this I love a horse that his foot God is gonna give me a horse I did some praying for a horse you guys couldn't pray with me if you want you don't have to but I'm gonna pray for horse fifth grade this girl's got her hand up like Heather horse asking God for a horse by the fifth girls at Yale Heather shut up ain't nobody care if you get a horse people are dying and you're praying for a horse and let me be really clear God does not need to be bothered with horse requests so please do us all a favor and shut your mouth it's been five years not insanity that out loud I'm a Christian so I just judged her on the inside [Applause] shots fired after when to the sixth grade we went to junior high school she went to another squad in sere I moved to Miami in high school but would you believe somewhere I think was my junior year I was back in Washington and I'm walking through the mall in Tacoma I'm on a vacation and I'm walking through the mall and I could not believe it but I saw my old elementary friend Heather at the mall I said Heather how are you she's I'm doing good she said what do you I go I'm in Miami go what have you been up to she said well I just won the state championship in the state of Washington for horsemanship [Applause] I said I said Heather by any chance do you own a horse she said I own two horses I said dang it I should have prayed for a horse come on Church I don't know who I'm preaching to tonight but I believe tonight there's some people in this room your request is not too small your request is not too big all you got to do is learn to bother God I'm a bother you God until you bless me I'm not taking no for an answer come on church

Channel: VOUS Church

Views: 32,386

Rating: 4.9048953 out of 5

Keywords: rich wilkerson jr, vous church, the art of bothering god, miracle in motion

Id: RhtXgqerAbg

Length: 51min 40sec (3100 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 27 2017