The Place of Change — Changes — Rich Wilkerson Jr.

today we are continuing our collection entitled changes everyone out loud say i want to change how many know life is fragile i don't want to waste one moment of my life not becoming who god has called me to become here's what i know i know that change is inevitable but growth well that happens on purpose and the last few weeks here at vue church we have been centering our talks around this word changes to to make a change and i kicked off just uh three weeks ago with this idea of an invitation to change last week i talked about the cost of change and i thought today i would preach to you from the subject the place of change come on anybody got some faith today that god's gonna speak to us the place of change we're gonna be looking at some verses in mark chapter one starting at verse 35 all the way through 45 is where our study is coming from uh as you know we are on a journey a six-month journey studying the gospel of mark um anybody out there like me like in 2021 you're not looking for something catchy you're looking for something concrete you know i'm looking for something that's sturdy sturdy ground and that's why we've committed ourselves to studying the gospel of mark and how many know that environment matters you understand that i mean like if if you're going to change like you need to be in a healthy environment you need to be in a healthy place seed without soil will never grow your life is a seed but if you don't match that sea with some healthy soil nothing is ever going to come about through it it's not enough to be full of potential you have to be planted this is why the psalmist writes those that are planted where in the house of god they will flourish it's not enough to want to flourish it's not enough to start 2021 saying i desire to be better i desire to grow no you're going to have to put that desire that potential and you're going to have to plant it somewhere the psalmist says if you will get planted in god's house not transplanted not deviating through every challenge but rather say i'm putting some roots down i'm going to put my life which is a seed into healthy soil i believe not overnight but over time i will grow some of you in 2021 you got to just get planted today is step four of the growth track and i love it because whether you're meeting in person or you're watching church online step four the growth track is the day that you get empowered to make a difference don't just be a spectator at vu church choose this year to be a participator get planted in what god is doing setting it it matters every great story has to have a proper setting and when i think about my life and i kind of go through all the defining moments of my life honestly every one of those moments is matched with a place i really couldn't even begin to tell you about all the moments or all the stories without also telling about the settings attached to those stories i remember when i first met my wife dawn tree defining moment i i remember exactly vividly where i was i was in a church service it was really a private school and there was a christian concert taking place both dontre and i both knew some people that were in the band plane that day in nashville tennessee and it was one of those kind of stadium seat type of rooms and i was on the ground floor and somehow don sri came walking down those steps and i will never forget it i mean that day changed my life forever but every time i walk into a movie theater and i see that kind of like that tiered seating i'm like where's my girl she's about to walk in anywhere the story has a setting attached to it i remember getting married and come on man i remember her walking down the aisle way and there i was i'm i'm at the altar and i don't know about you but i got married at 22 years of age that's what christians do right you know if you know what i'm saying like like we're just like all right i don't want to burn any longer and i don't want to operate and sin so i'm going to get married okay but i was 22 i was really young really dumb probably not prepared yet to take on this level of responsibility and so people talk about the wedding day being the happiest day of their life and oh my goodness i just remember everything so vividly not me i was about to faint up there i just remember the whole time like don't lock your legs like don't lock your legs if you see the wedding pictures of me when don she's walking down the aisle you're like is he happy or is he like gonna go down and pass out i'm like i'm crying because i'm scared you know i'm like what am i doing but to this day when i walk back into that same church and i see those steps it all of a sudden comes back to my memory the commitment the vows that i made the story has a setting what about our faith journey i think all of us on our faith journey we could probably go back to some places you know for me as a young man god shaped my life when i was in middle school in high school and i can go back to different campgrounds cedar springs campground or camp baraka where i would lay literally at the front of a stage for hours in a puddle of my own tears weeping and crying out to god saying god if you can use a rock you can use me i just want to be a part of your story my faith journey has these places along the way it was the place of change it was a moment where my my life changed forever and what you'll find out about god in the bible is that places matter to god like in the old testament there's a cool story where joshua is leading the israelite people moses has just passed away and now joshua's transitioned into leadership and he's leading the people into a new territory and as they're trying to step into what god has for them there is this jordan river most of us know the story of of the red sea being parted for moses but what i love about joshua's story is it reminds me that we all stand on the shoulders of the generations that go before us and the god who parted the red sea for moses is the same god who stopped the river for joshua and joshua and the israelites they walked across on dry ground and when they got finished you know what god told him to do god said i want you to grab 12 stones from that river and i want you to bring them out and i want you to place them on the ground as a memorial what was the point of the memorial the point was is that every time the israelite people came and saw those 12 stones stacked it was to commemorate and remember the place of change the place where god came through the place where god brought them into their destiny i wonder today do you know where your stones are stacked i wondered are you living your life in a way that you have this honor or this reverence towards the places where god has shaped you and changed you do you know on your journey where your stones are stacked because if we're not careful we will forget i mean our faith suffers when we forget a lot of us forget all that god has done a lot of forget all that god has brought us through a lot of us forget all that god has changed in our lives because of his grace because of his mercy because of his love i don't know about you i don't want to forget [Applause] place matters i say all of that to say that it's very interesting to me that when i talk to people one-on-one and you probably notice this as well and you talk to somebody who is craving a change or who desires to grow let me try to even put it down this way somebody today who's watching right now on youtube or maybe you're seeing this on instagram or facebook you feel stuck on your journey i just i just explained to you that place matters environment matters it's massive you got to be planted you got to be in a healthy environment you got to match that sea with soil yeah but i'm also always amazed when people feel stuck when people want to change when people want to grow how their first reaction so often is to say you know what i need to do i need to change the place that i'm in help me know that you you can move your setting but it doesn't always change your story and you can have a new place but you can still have an old perspective just because you changed your destination doesn't mean that you're still not going to be disappointed how many people do this right it's like yo um this job is frustrating you know what i need i need to move and be placed in a new job and that'll change everything for me i'd be yo this this marriage thing whoa it's harder than i thought i bet i know what i need to do i bet the problem is my spouse and if i could just get placed with a new spouse then my life would be great you know what it is it's like i'm in that church but nobody notices the anointing on my life and it's crazy because they keep asking me to serve in the parking lot but they don't know how grace anointed them for the platform i'm going to go find a place that'll let me be on the platform before they put me in the parking lot because then i can truly change i just want to say it this way to you today just because you change your place it doesn't mean that you are in a place to change just because you change your place it doesn't mean that you are in a place to change today i'm talking about the place of change but i suppose my question as we dive into god's word is are you in a place to change are you even in a place to change because just because you change the place doesn't mean that you're going to be in the place today we're going to look at three questions that we must ask ourselves to come to the answer around this idea am i in a place to change because it's not enough to want to change it's not enough to desire to change no friends we actually have to be in the place to change we're going to pick up today in mark chapter 1 verse 35 mark chapter 1 verse 35. uh it says very early in the morning while it was still dark jesus got up left the house and went off to a solitary place where he prayed three questions you got to ask yourself today around this idea am i in a place to change question number one is where's your wilderness where's your wilderness where's your wilderness now let's just pick up last week we we finished uh our teaching with jesus calling the first disciples to him remember he goes by the sea of galilee and there he says come follow me and i will make you fishers of men well as you continue your reading we missed maybe two stories he goes into an area known as capernaum and quickly he drives out a demon and then we see him go to his uh to peter's mother-in-law's house hello it's always kind of funny to me right because we quickly find out that peter um was married and if you know anything about um catholicism um peter is considered to be the first pope and so i just want to say i am following in the catholic tradition of the first pope of the catholic church which is i am married thank god okay okay so so so jesus goes to peter's mother's house where he actually performs a miracle she's got a fever and he cures her and as you can imagine everybody hears that jesus cures uh mary or jesus cures peter's mother and with that all of a sudden people start showing up from all over the place with sick people and so jesus walks out of the house and he heals all of these people he is busy at work so that's what he's just done but now as he's done that what he does the scripture says as we pick up today in verse 35 is the scripture says very early in the morning when it's still dark outside jesus gets away to a solitary place to pray now as you read mark's gospel what you're going to notice is that this is the rhythm of jesus's life right as you study jesus which were all apprentices as we learned last week what you'll see about the pattern or the rhythm of jesus's life is that jesus will retreat in order to return jesus will go on the inward journey before going on the outward journey and as you read mark's gospel what you're going to find out is there's three specific times that we see jesus praying it doesn't mean that jesus only prayed three times it's just we see these three specific moments the first is the one that we're in right here in verse 35 that he gets up early in the morning at night the second i believe is in mark chapter six where jesus he feeds 5 000 people and after he finishes feeding 5 000 people he withdraws from the crowd and he goes to a quiet place to pray the third time is when he's in the garden of gethsemane and he's got his disciples around him but remember his question is can you just keep watch with me for one hour and although they were present they slept in his most desperate hour the three observations that you'll make from all three moments of his prayer is that each time that he prays he prays at night when it's dark outside and he prays in solitude praise and solitude now here's what's very very fascinating to me about this text as you read the text what you'll discover is it says that he went off to a solitary place everyone say a solitary place now mark is writing in the greek language in the greek language solitary place the word is this word arimos aeromos and the world eramos if you can imagine this for a moment is the exact same greek word that's used for when john the baptist in mark chapter 1 is preaching in the desert aka wilderness and it's the same word that is used from our study last week when jesus is led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil say rich what are you saying i'm saying today if you want to discover are you in a place to change my question is where is your wilderness where is your secret place with god where is your solitary place with god where do you get alone with god what's your quiet place everybody needs a wilderness everybody needs an aeromost everybody if they're going to actually go on the journey of change are going to have to find time where they spend alone with god jesus is alone in the presence of god he is in the wilderness seeking his heavenly father man if jesus needed alone time with god how much more how much more with you in your car on empty looking for a job trying to pay your school bill how much more are you going to need alone time with jesus where's your wilderness where's your wilderness because if you don't have a wilderness i'm not quite sure you're in the place to change you can change your place all you want but you yourself are not in a place to change where is your wilderness where's your secret place everyone knows that the mark of a true friend is that you guys carry secrets when i was growing up i grew up in tacoma washington outside of seattle and we had this big huge front yard and we actually grew up on a house that was uh right in front of the puget sound and our house was actually on a cliff and it sounds kind of like treacherous but it was really cool as a young man because we used to hike down that cliff with all of me and my neighborhood friends and i remember my neighborhood friends and i we we had a fort and it wasn't an ordinary fort i mean making forts is like cool for young boys but our fort was like was was really cool what we did was that we we dug a hole in the ground and then we wanted our fort not to be visible or public to everybody else so we dug a hole in the ground and then we got plywood we laid plywood on top of the hole we took brush or grass and and and all sorts of different types of trees and we laid it on top of the plywood and then all of me and my friends about three to four of us could fit down in that hole we would go down into that hole put the plywood on top of us and we were in our secret place and the only people who knew where it was located were the friends were those that were in relationship i i wonder do you have a secret place with god 21 days of prayer and fasting has been an invitation for you to change it's been trying to draw you out of the hustle and the bustle out of the noise out of the city off of instagram off of social turn the music off leave netflix for a moment there is a creator who wants to minister to you but it happens in the wilderness i love that fact that jesus what he gets up in the middle of the night that's what jesus does i mean it's dark outside when jesus gets up how many know your wilderness might cost you sleep but friends it will gain you rest i'm telling you there is something powerful that happens to your soul in the wilderness we must learn to leave the comfort of the noise and to leave the comfort of the hustle and bustle and we must have a wilderness place we must have a secret place with our maker if you want to make sure you're in the place to change you got to answer the question where's your wilderness where's your wilderness i was thinking it's very interesting to me maybe you noticed this maybe you didn't notice this but it says very early in the morning while it was still dark jesus got up left the house and went off to a solitary place when you read this in the greek it is this word arimos it's the exact same word as we see just a few verses earlier but a few verses earlier how did jesus end up in the arimos in the wilderness in the desert he was led by the spirit i just wanted you to catch for a moment just a picture of what maturity looks like not that jesus needed to mature but i think that jesus does things on purpose to show you and i certain moments a few verses earlier jesus was led by the spirit to the arimos but a few verses later it's like he's mature and he's like all right the spirit's already led me there i'm not going to ask the spirit to lead me to places i already have the directions to i wonder do you still require the spirit to drag you to places that you should be walking into on your own accord [Applause] i don't know about you man but i want to grow in 2021 i don't want to just keep going back to the same old places i don't want to keep having the same old revelation at some point you have to mature at some point you have to grow the spirit leads jesus now a few verses later jesus is like hey the spirit already showed me that place i know how to get there on my own accord i'll use my own two feet i'll set my own alarm clock i'll get myself up and i will walk myself into the wilderness because i know of its power i wonder how long are you going to keep going back to wells that you know will never satisfy you how many more times this year are you going to go back to a place that you know will cause you harm that if it's not for god's spirit dragging you out of that place you would be destroyed come on there's some things that you already know stop looking for happiness in the same place you lost it the spirit has shown you a whole lot already you don't need to keep on dialing in the same address saying i don't remember how to get to that place yes you do you know how to read your bible you know how to seek god on your own you know how to serve you know how to give i want to go deeper i want to go further i want to grow bigger where's your wilderness where's your where's your wilderness i'm not going to ask the spirit to leave me to places that i have already been and i know how to get to of course i am totally dependent upon the spirit but i just wonder how much of our spiritual journey we cause him to show us places that we already know how to get to listen you can change the place but just because you change the place doesn't mean that you're in a place to change are you in a place to change that's my question environment matters but i'm just wondering before you change the environment before you are you even in a place change you got to ask yourself where's your wilderness watch what happens mark chapter 1 verse 36 just doing bible study that's what we're doing in the month of january probably till till we get to june till we get to the vu conference we're just doing bible study mark chapter 1 verse 36 watch this so simon and his companion they went to look for him and when they found him they exclaimed uh everyone is looking for you and jesus replied well let us go somewhere else to the nearby villages so i can preach there also that is why i have come and so he traveled throughout galilee preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons so i just want you to get this picture for a moment because this is really interesting here's jesus and uh he's just healed peter's mother-in-law praise god from mother-in-laws uh he's healed a whole town now he's gone to bed with his disciples but now he's he's left and he's gone to the wilderness the wilderness is not a is not a desert necessarily a wasteland when mark writes about it he's referring much more to a place of repentance or restoration or relationship with god so he's getting alone time with god how many know you know like if you're going to change the world you first need to have your world changed now early morning i rise i seek your face his mercies are new every morning that's what jesus is doing but watch what happens what happens is the disciples they they come looking for him in fact the way the text is written it's stressing the idea that they're on the hunt like they're looking for him and and they can't really find him maybe you're watching today and when you describe or think about who god is your relationship with god it's like yo i feel like god's missing i feel like god's absent i i don't know where he is i i can't seem to find god can you imagine playing hide and go seek with jesus that would be difficult right my son wyatt right now he's learning the game of hide and go seek and so he goes you know one two three ready or not here i come to find you i'm like dude when i grew up it was a lot more numbers than three you know but i think many times we get this idea that jesus is hiding somewhere and we're going one two three ready not here i come to find you but it's actually quite the opposite jesus is not actually lost in fact i would say just because you're looking doesn't mean that he's lost in fact jesus what does he say he says ask and it will be given knock and the door will be open seek and you will find the truth of the matter is is that jesus is not lost guess who's lost you and i are lost if we are playing night and go seek with god it's not jesus who's hiding it's you and me jesus is shouting from heaven this is what mark's gospel is about i've come with good news one two three ready or not you can run all you want but you cannot hide any longer i will find you you see my rich they're looking for i know they're looking look what the text says then they found him that's good news that's just because you don't see him for a moment doesn't mean that he's lost if you keep looking you will find him he he wants to be found by you i was talking to a friend this past week who's awesome part of our church and uh she's in this moment right now where she's got a friend who's who is an atheist really doesn't believe in any kind of god and she's just looking for tips or like you know just hey how do i even navigate this conversation and i want to be of service and i want to help you know what i've learned when i've come to different relations that i have with people that are much smarter than me or deep into philosophy or in some cases maybe having a paradigm or a thought process they don't even believe in god guess what the weight is not on your shoulders or my shoulders all we have to do in those situations is encourage our loved one our friend to seek him and if you're out there right now and you're watching and you're like yo dude like i don't trust you rich and i don't trust this live stream on youtube i'm watching i don't trust churches or people all of that is okay what i would plead with you is do not let any of us mere flesh and blood get in the way of you actually asking the deep questions because if you'll simply say god if you're real reveal yourself to me it might not happen in the time frame that you want but i promise you if you come with a searching heart if you have a desire to meet him he will reveal himself to you he wants to be found he wants to be found but notice what the disciples do they find him and when they find him it's almost like they have this passive aggressive subtle rebuke going on do you notice it in fact the scripture said that they exclaimed which is like is that a mild shout everyone is looking for you and if you see it they've got an exclamation mark you know like if it was just a sentence it would be a period it's like texting right do you guys have those friends that text you in all capital letters you're like what did i do to you what i'm so no i do not want to fight i don't want to fight my dad only texting capital letters he's like rich god wants to bless you i'm like i feel like god wants to harm me based upon your text you know because it's all capital letters well the exclamation mark is a shout these guys are mildly rebuking jesus how many know that's the spot you don't really want to be in they're rebuking jesus yo everyone is looking for you bro don't you understand jesus what's happening everyone wants to meet you and you're out here in the wilderness all alone just doing whatever out here with no one else around we got to get going we got an agenda there's people to meet there's people to encourage you got to heal more people don't you know everybody wants to meet you i see it's very very important as you read this text that if you're are you in a place to change are you in a place to change question number one is where's your wilderness but question number two is what's driving you what's driving you because quickly what we discover as we read this story is we see the motivation of jesus is much different from the motivation than the disciples they come to jesus and they're like yo where where are you everyone's looking for you we got to get going but look at what jesus how he responds he says let us go somewhere else no no no i don't think you understood we came and found you to let you know that they're all over there they all want to meet you and jesus his answer is borderline harsh it's like no no let us go somewhere else to the nearby villages so i can preach there also this is why i have come so he traveled throughout galilee preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons it's really really interesting to me because the disciples are so sure of what jesus is supposed to do and what jesus is meant to do but what i know about life and what i know about humanity is left to ourselves we will always forsake the important to deal with the urge what's driving you what's motivating you because what you quickly see here about jesus is you quickly see that his methods 2000 years ago are kind of different than the methods that we see at the evangelical church today because evangelical church today and i'm a part of that we're like yo uh anything for a crowd hold on you tell me there's people lining up out there you tell me that people want to do another service do another event let's go meet them let let's go get them it's urgent we we we go to them we we gotta get to them what you discover about jesus that his method for ministry is far different than my method or your method he is not basing his life based upon external results i remember one time i was talking to a church planter and i'm not a hater but sometimes i come off like a hater also on a church planner and nice guy but he was he was describing to me how he was getting ready he had three different cities that he was thinking about planting a church in i said what do you mean three different cities you're thinking about planting churches like well my team we've come together and uh we've done all the reports uh we've done all the i got the reports what are the reports he's like we we've scoured the land we've done the census i don't know if people do census anymore he starts going through all this analytics he's like we we've researched the people there that there's a there's a big group of people that are that used to be church but now are unchurched and we've discovered that they like this type of music and i've got this person on my team that will reach that style and uh we we know the marketing we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna make sure that we blanket all the the 40 000 homes with this mailer and this mailer is going to produce these results and he was talking and i'm not trying to be a hater like do your work man at food church we got all sorts of tools that we're measuring everything we want to be good stewards of what we're doing but the whole time he was talking i was just thinking to myself yo bro you do know that you cannot strategize the move of god you do know that you can't analyze a move of god you do know that you can't quantify or dadify a move of god god is looking for people that are driven by obedience not outcomes god is looking for people that will make sure that they know what they're called to according to jesus he's not looking at the same outcomes that you and i are looking at according to jesus he's trying to live his life out of obedience listen to me just because it can work doesn't mean that it should work just because it will grow doesn't mean that it will last and just because the door is open doesn't mean that you should walk through it if you want to be in the place to change you have to ask yourself the question what is driving me what is motivating me what is the intention of my heart why do i want to succeed why do i want to be triumphant why because what drives you defines you and what motivates you moves you and the disciples apparently are driven by crowds but jesus is driven by his calling can i get a witness from somebody out there today [Applause] i don't want to be driven by the crowd i don't want to be driven by the people out there i want to do what god has called me to do just because it's urgent doesn't mean that it's important and what jesus is showing each and every one of us especially those that want to be disciples and those that want to be apprentices and those that want to actually build the kingdom of god and those that want to actually inflict change on a broken lost world those that actually not want to be shaped by the culture but want to shape the culture jesus would say if you live for everyone you will reach no one if you live forever when you're going to reach no one and you look at jesus you're like dude i know but all these people they're here all these people they they want you to to heal them but what i love about jesus is jesus is saying no no i'm not driven by the same thing that you're driven by i want you to understand that it's important for me to be in this wilderness i must retreat in order for me to return and i have decided and defined that i'm not going to live my life based upon your outcomes i'm going to live my life based upon obedience to my mission my motivation has determined my mission you know what jesus knew jesus knew that those people that were there were there for all the wrong reasons they wanted a healing but they didn't want truth they wanted miracles but they didn't actually want the man jesus is saying what you guys don't get right now and what is moving you right now is you think that these guys are here and because they're here that we should just set up shop and build the headquarters here and because it's going to be big and because it's going to be loud and because it'll be successful to the audience of the public and the crowd that's why we should do it but friends please understand jesus would say to you and i he would say you guys don't get it they want my power they don't want my word so what does he say he says let us go somewhere else somewhere else yeah like i know they're there but like i know why they're here i know what's driving them i know what's motivating them sure i can change them from the outside but i'm not here to change people from the outside in i'm here to change people from the inside out i know what's motivating them so so let's go somewhere else to the nearby villages so i can preach there also that's why i've come isn't that amazing jesus is a miracle worker but it wasn't his mission his mission was to preach to us the truth let me not get lost here in doing external outward miracles let me get back on to what is driving me and what is motivating me it's to preach to preach the truth number one where's your wilderness number two what's driving you mark chapter 1 verse 40 it says a man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees if you are willing you can make me clean filled with compassion jesus reached out his hand and touched the man i am willing he said be clean and immediately everyone say immediately immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured are you in a place to change are you in a place to change where's your wilderness what's driving you but number three really simple question are you willing to do what you have never done because it's not enough to change your place if you're not in a place to change uh love this man because this man it's hard for us to get the context but jesus has been in the wilderness jesus has now left a whole crowd of people that were begging at him and clawing at him and saying heal me heal me said no i gotta go preach and as he's preaching there's this man with leprosy we don't get his name we get his condition ever felt like that in life people don't see you don't know your identity don't know the real you all they see is your condition all they see is the color of your skin all they see is your outward appearance and they label you and they categorize you what i love about jesus that he doesn't do that he looks deeper within discover who we actually are and here's this man he's got leprosy it's hard to really understand the weight of what leprosy means but leprosy is a skin condition really a skin disease and in the ancient world it was a death sentence as you read certain stories what happens is that at times as it gets worse that your limbs actually begin to fall off not only was it a physical death sentence maybe at times the more painful thing was that it was a it was a society death that you became an outcast that you were a cultural outcast as you as you study the torah a lot of you this year are committing to read your bible for one year straight we do pretty good with genesis i like that there's noah's ark i love joseph and his dream that's a cool story we do pretty good with exodus oh wow there's moses i like this guy numbers oh my goodness joshua and the spies deuteronomy this is okay it's getting kind of weird you get to like leviticus right there leviticus and deuteronomy like all right um do i believe this what did i get myself into at this church because in leviticus you start to see the ceremonial laws if you study leviticus 13 and 14 in fact i'd even encourage you as you're listening to this message go back look at it rita you will see two full chapters of descriptive rules and regulations for men and women who had leprosy and what you will find is that if you had leprosy you were a social outcast you couldn't live in the city you had to live outside the city in fact what you'll find out is that they had to keep their distance and that wasn't a subjective amount of distance the scripture tells us it was 50 paces you ever walked out 50 paces like 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. we keep going just that's 10 at a distance they had to keep 50 paces and anywhere that they came in where someone actually came into that sphere or that that that perimeter they had to announce themselves unclean unclean those are the words they had to shout so if they're minding their own business and you walk into their 50 pounds unclean unclean just want you to see the picture of what this man is carrying all his life it's a powerful story because as you read it something about this day changed in this man the rules the ceremonial laws was very clear you got to keep your distance and as you step into somebody's circumference you better announce you are unclean but on this day as this man saw jesus he's drawn to him and he runs to him i can imagine going unclean unclean and clean 50 paces i'm clean unclean 50 paces unclean and clean until he finally finds himself on his knees at the feet of jesus and he says if you're willing you can make me clean it's amazing because we don't recognize how much shame and guilt was attached to this man's life but i know this to be true that there's many of you watching right now and the reason why you don't move forward from weakness to strength is because it'd be too embarrassing to admit the problems would be too embarrassing to unearth the fact that i am unclean but i'm telling you friends if you want to get something you've never had before you're going to have to be able to do something you've never done before i'm weak i'm ashamed i'm afraid i'm scared i'm unclean but if you're willing if you're willing jesus you can make me clean i know it i know it i know it they say insanity is defined by doing the same thing over and over again and expecting new results i don't know how to preach it to you any better i wish you were all in front of me i wish i could throw my sweat on you i wish i could spit on you i wish you could see how passionate i am right now but some of you you gotta hear me this year ain't gonna look any different unless you do something different your marriage it's gonna look the same as 2020 unless you do something different your kids this unless you do something different this man on this day he's like i'm done hiding this is my moment to change i just gotta get to the place where jesus is i just gotta get to the place where jesus is but it's going to cost me announcing for 50 paces i am unclean and i am unclean and i am unclean and i am unclean but i have decided that the announcement of my weakness is worth the cost of me receiving new strengths in jesus how long are you going to hide how long are you going to fake it till you make it how's that going for you how long are you going to act like it's all good how long are you going to live your life through instagram filters projecting a life that does not exist you can change place as many times you want new marriage new job new city new destination new family new car new shoes but just because you've changed the place doesn't mean that you're in the place to change this man he he believed that jesus was able he just wasn't confident that he was willing oh i love jesus because here's this man falls on his feet can you make me clean i i believe you can make me clean just are you willing to do it i love jesus oh we don't get it because jesus was a rabbi it's just hard for us to understand but jesus immediately the scripture actually says that he looked upon him with compassion another translation says he was indignant which is probably a better translation because as you study the text what you'll find out that the ancient manuscripts said that he was he looked upon him with anger then look at the man with anger but indignation is this idea that i'm so fed up it's like jesus is like i'm so angry i have such righteous anger about this thing called the fall of humanity which has resulted in disease and sin and if you want to know my feeling about it a good modern day niv translation is compassion but if you want to go to old school church jesus is like i'm angry about it and i'm angry that there's a humanity that would even wonder if i am willing the scripture says that he he touches the man which doesn't seem like much to you but you got to realize that the moment he touched the man according to the ceremonial laws that the rabbi himself now became unclean also but here's what's so cool about jesus is jesus he supersedes the law jesus is the lord of the ceremony he's the master of the ceremony what do you mean rich if he touched him isn't that him breaking the law no you ever been um maybe going down us one here in miami all the people that are living in miami and as you live in miami us-1 has always got all sorts of just different things happening traffic-wise i was driving the other day on us one and i got to this light and and the light was working but i don't know if there was an accident or something like that but there was two police officers in the street and the police officers now were having to wave people through the lights what was amazing is this what happened before the police officer was saying come come on come on through but the light the light was red i was like um we good because i know like i won't be i don't want you guys getting a camera flip this on me you know police officers said no i'm i'm here you can come on through why because the presence of the officer according to our written law says that when the officer is present he supersedes the written law he can enforce the written law he can judge the written law and if he changes the written law that moment you better obey the officer if you say how on earth could jesus touch this man who's unclean it's because jesus is above the sickness jesus is above the law jesus he comes and he touches the areas of our life that are unclean you're saying yo i think i think jesus is ashamed of my shame and you would be mistaken he came to touch the areas that you're ashamed of he came to touch the areas that you're not proud of the areas that you're hiding the areas that you're covering up this is the god who touches us and i love it because in one moment we see another picture of genesis chapter one as we keep talking about how did god create he created with his words in the same way that he raised lazarus from the dead in the same way he created the heavens and the earth when jesus heals when jesus changes when jesus transforms he doesn't have to find a magic wand he doesn't have to get a whole bunch of potions together he doesn't have to come up with some sort of script all he has to do is speak it into existence and as he touches the man he says i am willing but not only am i willing he declares be clean and immediately the man was cured oh come on somebody give him praise immediately the man was cured his leprosy was away and he was cured i love jesus because jesus says yes i can and yes i will yes i can and yes i will yes i can heal it and yes i will heal i know they told me i'm not supposed to touch you but i don't have to listen to them i'm here on assignment of obedience and i came to touch areas that they told me that society said i'm not supposed to touch i wonder if we could build a church that would say you know what we're going to touch some areas that others have told us we can't touch i wonder if we could be a church that says we're going to stand in the gap and we're going to be a church that says whoever you are whatever you got going in your life every broken area every hang up you belong here we will embrace and we will cover you yes i can and yes i will yes i can and yes i will i can and i will and if you want to know what heaven is shouting over your life today heaven is shouting yes i can and yes i will it's the place of change if i can just get to the place where jesus is then i know he will say yes i can and yes i will yes i can and yes i will i suppose i'm preaching so hard because i want to establish as you're answering these questions today am i in a place to change my question was are you willing to do what you've never done so the man was wondering if jesus was willing but let me just encourage jesus says yes i can and yes i will so for a moment can we put that to the side jesus is willing my question is what are you willing to do what are you willing to do it's not a lot you just gotta you gotta expose your secrets you gotta expose your weakness you gotta say i'm unclean i'm unclean but if you're willing you can make me clean you can change your place but it doesn't mean that you're in a place to change are you in a place to change where's your wilderness what's driving you are you willing to do this year what you've never done before we'll close with this mark chapter 1 verse 43 we'll go to the end of the passage here i want you to see this jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning see that you don't tell this to anyone but go show yourself to the priests and offer the sacrifice that moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them now what i love is is that jesus he just broke the ceremonial law but now jesus is reinforcing the ceremonial law that if you had leprosy and you thought that you were cured somehow the only person that could declare that you were clean is the priest very important to note that jesus commands the man go to the priests and make sure the priest says that you've been cleansed what i love is is the priest has the authority to call out cleansing but it's only jesus who has the authority to cure you completely it says go to the priest let him know don't don't tell anyone he says don't don't tell anyone what happened here but look at this man instead he went out and began to talk freely spreading the news it really makes me laugh because um so many times in churches like you know what we need to do we need to teach evangelism we should we should do like a seven week series on evangelism evangelism 101 evangelism 201 and of course evangelism 301-401 how to talk to people how to share your faith i'm not against it i'm being a hater today i know this whole sermon is about me being a hater but but what's crazy is that how many know that when you get touched by jesus even when jesus tells you not to share what he's done you can't help but open your big mouth said hey i know a guy who changed my life forever keep it right here keep nah nah nah nah don't don't tell anybody i'm not supposed to say anything no evangelism is a result of the gospel changing your life instead he went out and he began to talk freely spreading the news i want you to see this as a result jesus could no longer enter a town openly watch this but stayed outside in lonely places yet the people still came to him from everywhere we will talk in the coming weeks coming months that you will see this pattern of jesus that when he heals people when he saves people all throughout the gospel of mark he he commands them not to say a word he said rich why would he ever do that well there's lots of reasons we'll talk about it more in the coming weeks some of the reasons are because there was so many misconceptions around the messiah he didn't want false rumors going around he didn't want people controlling the narrative that he came to control he also knew that that faith could not be coerced from a spectacle that we don't come to follow jesus because he can do miracles on the outside we come to follow jesus because he changes us from the inside we don't follow jesus because we can have a happy life we follow jesus because he declares in me you can have a happy eternity but i suppose the biggest reason why scholars believe that he did not want people to say anything is because ultimately you cannot know jesus until he gets to the other side of the cross to talk about jesus without the cross you would be missing the whole point because friends the cross is the place of change the cross reminds you and i that he is more than some moral teacher the cross reminds us that he is so much deeper than just some noble human being he's he's more than just some peacemaker he he's more than a miracle worker he's he's more than a leadership guru all of those things he is but the cross shows you and i that jesus is the son of god who came in the form of a humble servant that would what that would take the place of our sins on the cross what is the cross the cross is the place of change and jesus was like until i get to that cross i don't want you guys going and sharing just half the message because i came with the gospel the good news and there's not going to be any good news until i go to that place where i must die so that you may live i must go and be stretched wide and hung high that you might find life in life more abundantly the cross is the place of change we wear crosses around our neck why because a cross around your neck or a cross on your wall or a cross in your car what is it it's like a stone when we cross the river jordan we place it around our neck we place it in our home because we remember we commemorate we honor we revere that's the place of change [Music] that's the place of change so i don't know if you saw it but it's important that you see it jesus touches the man jesus cleanses the man and jesus says don't go tell anybody about this but the man can't keep his mouth shut he starts sharing good news and with it jesus is driven where where is jesus driven to verse 45 it says this as a result jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places someone say lonely place the story begins with jesus in the wilderness as an insider in the presence of god but the story ends with jesus as an outsider in not a solitary place but a a lonely place but isn't this the gospel that the outsider known as the leper who was outside the city who lived his entire life as an outcast one touch from jesus in the outcast well he got to change places with jesus and the outsider becomes the insider who's clean and the insider known as jesus now becomes the outsider in the lonely place why because the best way i can say it is that the place of change is a change of place a place of change is a change of place a change of place what do you mean rich yeah that's the gospel that jesus didn't just die for you on that cross oh friend it is so much better than that he died as you this story is not the story of a leper some guy this is the story of you and this is the story of me that every one of us we are the outcasts we are the lepers we are unclean but thank god for his grace thank god for his mercy thank god for jesus in action thank god for the gospel that jesus christ he came and declared guess what the place of change is the moment that i change places with you i'm going to change you from the inside out i'm going to take your death so you can get my life you're going to receive my reward and i will take your consequence is there anybody out there who's grateful for the cross of jesus christ that at the cross everything changed at the cross he took my place come on if you believe it give god some praise come on hey rich wilkerson here i want to say a big thank you for watching today's content believing and trusting that it impacted you and if it did help you or and encourage in any way i would love you to like it and share it with some other people make sure to subscribe to the vu church youtube page where you can get more content just like this and while you're there go peruse the gallery as they say and see past talks and past content that i believe is going to help you i love you best yet to come

Channel: VOUS Church

Views: 29,901

Rating: 4.9635534 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: N7AqX0fe2cQ

Length: 57min 53sec (3473 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 24 2021