The Point of Change — Changes — Rich Wilkerson Jr.

[Applause] i thought today on part five part five i would preach to you from the subject the point of change the point of change and i want us to look at mark chapter two starting in really verse 23 and we're going to go all the way into mark chapter 3. just look at your neighbor right now and just say yo what's the point look at your other neighbors say neighbor what's the point in the chat just say what's the point have you read one of those um maybe moments in your life that you just royally missed the point i kind of feel like in 2021 uh we are so distracted uh i'm one of these kind of guys now is this happen anybody else is this just me when i watch television of any sort i have to watch it with closed captioning like i don't know how i'll ever go back to the movies because i have to have the captions at the bottom i feel like i can't just hear what you're saying i have to hear it and read it simultaneously the other night we were watching a movie and multiple times had to stop the movie i had to rewind it to go i i lost the context i need to get back and figure out what it was they were saying it's so easy in 2021 with distractions to to miss the point uh last week i took a trip with a few guys here at vu and we did what we called our wilderness week you remember in a message i was preaching just a few weeks ago i titled it the place of change and one of the questions i asked in the message is where's your wilderness not literally do you have a desert in your life but more figuratively where is your place of solitude with god where do you go to have communion with god and relationship with god we decided that we would take that message a little bit literally and so we actually went to uh really the forsaken place we went to georgia out in the middle of nowhere and for three days we had a wilderness week where we sought god in silence and solitude it was kind of funny because we got there to georgia and i don't know you i'm a city guy um i wanted to go alone but then i quickly realized i don't know how to make food all by myself like i would die in solitude and so i had to bring some people along with me but you know we got there and as we were sitting out there in the middle of nowhere we were setting our intention for the week and one of the first things i said is hey guys this next three days no cell phones like you got to put your phone away you we're not going to have our phones out here we're going to we're going to be alone with god and we're going to have some designated moments for community and for prayer together like i was setting the ground rules and so we were doing all sorts of different types of disciplines we were reading two different books we were studying god's word together we were praying we were being alone with jesus and so the first block of time was a time to study we were we're going to read a book and so we all scattered and we're going to be gone for two and a half hours from each other i just given the entire pep talk i just set the intention for the week i just made it very clear what the point of the trip was stay off your phone i went out into the woods and i had my backpack and i had all my gear and i'm out in the middle of the brush i just can't see anybody anywhere i'm at i'm just alone with jesus and i'm i'm reading my book i'm about an hour into my book when i hear these noises i'm like what are these what are these noises what are these noises and i look over and i can't even believe it you guys this is a big deal for a city boy i look over and i see a pack of deer they're right there and like you know i'm an old school chair i'm like as the deer panted for the water so my soul longeth after thee i'm like oh this is a moment from god you know and i look at all these deer and they're so beautiful i'm like oh my goodness and so what do i do i break the rule i i quickly look for my my phone because i want to capture this this grace-filled god-centered moment and i start going through my backpack and i'm i'm looking for my phone and i finally find my phone now i'm trying to get the phone open and i'm trying to get the video camera because i have to capture this god-centered moment as i'm pulling my phone up the deer start to run i'm going oh no the deer are running and i i'm getting my phone and i can't get the camera working i finally get the camera working but instead of it shooting at the deer it's shooting at me and it's a selfie video and i'm hitting record and now i'm recording my stupid looking face and i'm missing all the deer running and before you know it the whole moment passed i'm sitting there going what was that and i swear i heard the holy spirit speak to me right then and there in the first two hours the trip saying rich that whole moment was for you it wasn't for anybody else have you ever missed the point have you ever just missed the moment there i am and it's like god is setting me up for this trip of solitude and silence and right then and there he's given me this moment that wasn't for anybody else but because i was so distracted because i was so caught off guard there i am i'm searching for my phone why so i can share the story with someone else i think so often we live our life and we live our life wanting to share a great story that many times we miss out on living a great story the point of change what's the whole point why are we even talking about changes why do you even want to change and just to really strip it down and make it crystal clear today the point of change is to grow the point of change is to become who god's called you to become the point of change is to improve see that's the whole thing as we step into 2021 as we're six weeks into a brand new year the question is are you growing are you getting better have you missed the whole point see some of us the reason why we don't change the reason why we don't grow is because we miss the whole point of it and we try to stay the same and we try to fight to keep everything exactly how it used to be and we want to project a great life but we don't actually want to focus on living an actually great life that's why some of you right now you don't understand but the people you're hanging out with it's not that they're bad people it's that those people are not going to help you grow and you're missing the point you're hanging on to old relationships that unless you release those people you're never going to step into all that god has for you what's what's the point the point is to grow the point is to become see the point of change is not to merely look different the point of change is to be different i i don't just want to project something i don't want to just capture it feel my phone look at my incredible time in solitude god sent the deer right on time no no god says before i do something through you i want to do something in you what's the whole point of all this change stuff why are we wanting to change in 2021 it's because we want to grow it's because we want to become who who god wants us to become i don't want you to get lost in all of the principles and all of the habits that you actually miss your moment not to tell a good story but to live a good story i really believe it this year that the best thing that we can bring each season of life is our transforming selves are you transforming are you becoming are you growing someone say i want to grow when i think about the bible and i think about people in the bible that royally miss the point over and over again i can't help but take an easy shot at the pharisees it's just too easy of a target right the pharisees if you don't know who they are they are the religious group in jesus's day they are jewish leaders who were living a zealous life trying to obey all of the old covenant and the pharisees in nature were not bad people they were just people who constantly missed the point and because they missed the point their life was filled with pride and their pride lied to them they gave up a life of progression for a failed attempt of living a life of perfection see the pharisees whole goal was to live a perfect life to obey all of the law not to make one single mistake but what they did not realize is is they were missing the whole point they were resisting change they were resisting growth and because they were not progressing instead they became filled up with self-righteousness and arrogance they didn't transform they didn't bring the best version of themselves to the table instead they got stagnant and they became impressed with themselves rather than falling in love with the solution his name is jesus and the pharisees as you study them they're they're very very interesting because ultimately pride prevents us from growing like like it's not just like what's the point of change it's also like what are the points in your life that you do change like go back through your life go back to some of the defining moments that you've experienced my guess is most of your defining moments weren't birthed out of pride they were birthed out of humility how may know that sometimes when you find yourself in a valley when you've been humbled it's not from the mountaintop that we tend to change it's from the valley the mountaintop makes you look down the valley causes you to look up it's not in looking down upon where you've been but rather it's setting your gaze upon where god is that cast you a bigger vision of who you can become [Applause] it is there from a place of humility that you become open to change open to grow what's the point of change the point of change is always from a place of humility it's never from a place of pride pride lies to you and makes you think that you're perfect but humility says no there's room to grow there's room to improve the point of change is that i would get better i don't just want you to think that i'm different i want to be different i want god to do something in me before i try to have god do something through me and the pharisees as you study them right they just they miss the point over and over and over again they are never aware of what it is that jesus is doing or why he came and so they resist the change because their pride prevents them from progress i mean just just go through it right they're always at odds with jesus just in the little section that we've been studying um last week dawn tree kicked us off in mark chapter two we're not gonna get into all of mark two today we're gonna skip some sections but just look at how they have disagreements with jesus in in mark chapter two the story of the paralytic man as he's lowered in from the roof what was the disagreement about the disagreement was about forgiveness of sins they disagree with jesus that jesus could forgive the man but then the next section we see jesus he goes and meets this tax collector named levi tax collectors in that day and age were considered really bad people they're like mobsters or gang members if you will they were extorting people of their money they were stealing from people you got to love jesus because he doesn't care about the crime he cares about the criminal you see him hanging out with levi and he calls levi doesn't send levi to the growth track he doesn't send levi to the baptism course he just says follow me and levi leaves his tax collector booth and starts following jesus but what happens is you just read a few verses there in the mark chapter two jesus is at a party with all the tax collectors and what happens the pharisees show up and they're angry what are they disagreeing about they're not just about forgiveness now they're disagreeing about fellowship they're saying you can hang out with people like that that that's not how a man of god is supposed to carry himself a man of god shouldn't be at that party a man of god shouldn't be sitting with those people i love jesus because he's not afraid to be guilty by association and before we start judging the pharisees let me just do it early for all of us i see more of myself in the pharisees than i do in jesus it's easy to judge the pharisees from this vantage point but in all reality you and i are much like the pharisees we get so puffed up with our works we get so puffed up with our good deeds but what happens is we miss the point of change we stop growing we stop becoming we start becoming full of pride and pride prevents the progress you can't hang out with them what does jesus say in mark chapter two oh i didn't come for the healthy i came for the sick anybody thankful that while you were sick in your sin jesus said i came for you oh come on somebody give god some praise that he came and found you i'm thankful that this god wasn't afraid or ashamed to be associated with me i am no better than the tax factor in fact i am the tax collector but it's not just a disagreement about it's not just about forgiveness not just a disagreement about fellowship what does he do next the pharisees now are mad at jesus the disciples because they're not fasting enough well john the baptist disciples they fasted how come jesus's disciples don't fast they've disagreed about forgiveness they've disagreed about fellowship now they're disagreeing about fasting you don't fast enough your fasting's wrong i love jesus jesus is like yo there'll be a time to fast but while the bridegroom is here it's time to party you're missing the moment this is a moment that i have with my disciples that is unlike any other moment in history it's not for anybody else no no it's for them and them being with me and in this celebration is how i will change the world because i will do something in them before i do something through them but then we pick up to mark chapter 2 verse 23 and there's another disagreement forgiveness fellowship fasting now the disagreement is around the sabbath and it comes down to this word freedom they're disagreeing with jesus around freedom they're mad what jesus is doing regarding this sabbath and i want to just talk to you today from this subject the point of change hopefully we are not like the pharisees that we miss the entire point to grow to become hopefully we don't resist change misunderstand the fact that change is how we become who god's called us to be but also i want to show you three points of change today three points of change the points in your life that you change forever is when you identify these three points let's look at mark chapter 2 verse 23 as we see the pharisees once again disagreeing with jesus and rather than judge the pharisee examine your own life today is there a pharisee inside of you mark 2 verse 23 watch this this is what it says it says one sabbath everyone say one sabbath jesus was going through the grain fields and all and his disciples walked along they began to pick some heads of grain the pharisees said to him look why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath he answered have you never read what david did when he and his companions were hungry and in need in the days of abathar the high priest he entered the house of god and ate the consecrated bread which is lawful only for priests to eat and he also gave some to his companions then he said to them the sabbath was made for man watch this not man for the sabbath so the son of man is lord even of the sabbath see the first point of change is your viewpoint everyone say viewpoint very important that you see this that that a viewpoint is a perspective a viewpoint is the way that you see things we don't see things for how they are we see things for the way that we are it's important that we view god's commands correctly because the point of change starts with your viewpoint how you how you see things it's a point in your life that you've got to get right i i love what's taking place here because jesus we've seen all these disagreements he's had with the pharisees now it's sabbath let's just stop right there and discuss what this means the sabbath is the seventh day of the week in the jewish calendar which means it's saturday and the sabbath according to jewish custom begins on sunset of friday night to sunset of saturday night and it's the fourth commandment of the ten commandments and it's a day that's meant to be holy the sabbath is this day that god would say it's part of the rhythm of your life that you're to work six days and you're to rest the seventh day that if you'll feel work six days and then if you'll trust me with the seventh day i will i will better your best i will better your rest i'll take your rest and i'll do the best it's a it's a pattern it's a rhythm that he is setting out and it's not really just like a principle for your personal life according to god's word this principle begins all the way back in the book of genesis it is the cadence of creation that the earth itself the universe has a rhythm to it tides come in and tides go out the the moon it it it's there in the earth and it controls these tides and there's this rhythm the sun sets the sun goes down there's there's seasons they come and they they go there there's morning and there's night it's a picture of how the earth works i think we live in a world right now where everybody's looking for balance i just want to find balance you find yourself in 2021 going i just need to find some balance but i think that's the wrong word i don't think that we should be looking for balance i think that we should be seeking out rhythm life is about seasons you must understand that each season of your life it comes and it goes and it looks different what i love about jesus is jesus is somebody who honored the sabbath he celebrated the sabbath he honored the sabbath he would work for six days and then he would stop and he would rest on the seventh day it was the rhythm of jesus's life it was to keep a healthy soul it was to keep a healthy life it wasn't necessarily balanced but it was full of rhythm i think the mistake that you and i make is many times we don't ever take time to define the season that we're in let me just tell you something 36 years of age with two little kids and a little girl on the way that season looks different from when i was 25 years of age with a wife being a youth pastor it's it's not that one's better than the other it's that they're just different seasons what season are you in i always say it this way to our staff and our team we must define our season so we can determine our rhythm what's the rhythm of your life where is it that you're finding time to pause to stop and to get recovery for your soul that's what the sabbath was all about the sabbath was about you finding rhythm to your life because if you don't find rhythm to your life your life will be offbeat yes you ever met somebody who who's offbeat exhibit a right here that's me yo like you don't want to sit next to me in church uh i i i don't know it's all these years nothing's nothing's took bro it's just i'm i'm a clap off beat i'm gonna get you off beat you're not gonna enjoy it you know i'm gonna sing loud off-key and offbeat that's a that's a disaster right you ever tried to freestyle rap before where are we at well come on where's a few of us a few a few of us yeah like like i remember one time you know um i was with some buddies and they were freestyle rapping you know they had a beat dropping and it was like they're passing you know the flow to each other and it's like yo rich you're up man i'm like yeah yeah yeah you know yeah yeah yo turn the beat up yo yo turn the beat up turn my headphones up you know there's only so many things you can say before you actually have to begin the flow the problem is i can't keep the beat i don't know when to come in i don't know when to go out and it's disastrous it's not because i don't have anything to say it's that i don't know how to get on beat and just because i have something to say it doesn't really matter if i don't know the flow i just felt like preaching to some people today that it's not that you don't have anything to do it's not that you don't have a gift to bring it's not that you're not called it's not that you don't have a purpose it's just that your life is constantly off beat and it doesn't really matter how much gifting and how much talent and how much calling how much purpose you have if you don't find the flow it will never ever work life is about a flow sabbath is about the flow of your soul is your soul flowing and too often or not we don't even think about our soul and our soul is offbeat and our life is off beat and it just sticks out like a sore thumb and everything feels forced and everything feels mechanical and nothing seems to go together maybe just maybe it's because you haven't defined your season therefore you haven't determined your rhythm the scripture says that jesus on the sabbath he was he was walking through and i just i have to stop there because we're talking about changes and i just want you to catch this that you need to adhere to this practice jesus said i didn't come to abolish the law i came to fulfill the law sabbath is not about taking a vacation i just need a vacation no you can go on a vacation and come back just as depleted or even more depleted than you did the day that you left it's about a soul rest it's about a posture of your heart it's about getting alone with god and letting him refuel you and refill you what's amazing about the pharisees is that the pharisees they didn't get mad at people for necessarily breaking the law more often than not the pharisees got mad at people for breaking their law because these guys had always missed the point of the law they had the wrong viewpoint of the law you know what they did they added additional rules to the law all with the hope of perfecting it all with the hope of not getting it wrong this is the heart of legalism by the way legalism is not necessarily what you do legalism is always the motivation of your heart why you do what you do the pharisees had a scoreboard it was an imaginary scoreboard but they were putting points up on the scoreboard and when they did good they thought god owed them when they did bad they thought they owed god both are a lie and the pharisees were adding to the law constantly but according to jewish tradition there was 39 different things that you could not do on the sabbath one of those was that you could not pick any type of grain on the sabbath day jesus and his disciples are are passing through this grain field and his disciples begin to pick the heads of it and as they pick the heads of it quickly the pharisees see it and they get angry and they say you're not allowed to do that you can't do that type of work on the sabbath day i love jesus because jesus he comes back with his response and as you listen to jesus's response he's not giving an excuse instead he's setting a precedent very important he's like a good lawyer notice how he says it as they accuse him of something jesus says have you never read the scriptures before meaning he feeds the religious people the bible as his precedent and what does he say he draws them back to an old testament story about king david he says have you never read the time that king david with his men took the consecrated bread from the temple courts and they ate it now as you read this you say why is he doing this jesus he points out this moment for two reasons reason number one he points this moment out is because david was a jewish hero david was this like this larger-than-life character in god's word but not just that everybody believed that the messiah was going to come from the house of david in fact we're going to read in a few weeks blind bartimaeus when he sees jesus what does he say some of you have already read ahead you're in your journal he says son of david have mercy on me jesus is making the connection that as the messiah comes i will be the son of david but he's also making the connection that if david did this why wouldn't you expect me to do this but now he's going to go further because his disciples are not in hunger or fearing death from a king they are fine they are just a-okay he's also saying but this son of david is also to be the lord of david meaning i'm supposed to come from his house but i'm also supposed to be superior to him therefore i'm going to do the same thing he did but not have the same reasons why he did it what he was doing in the moment is once again he was revealing like mark 1 1 says that i'm here on my mission i'm jesus in action i am the son of david i am the messiah but i'm also god in the flesh have you never read before have you never read god's word you know all about the sabbath but you don't know the lord of the sabbath this is why he stops and he says this great thing he says the sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath so the son of man is lord even of the sabbath what's he saying once again he's saying you guys know all about the principle of the sabbath you guys have created all sorts of additional rules to the sabbath but somehow you've missed the entire point of the sabbath you have no idea that the sabbath is there to restore your soul instead what you've done of the sabbath is you've made it deplete people's soul why because your viewpoint about god's commands makes them either a blessing or a burden and so many of us in this room we have the wrong viewpoint and because we have the wrong viewpoint about what god says instead of it being a blessing in our life it becomes a burden in our life [Applause] i wonder today what god has said to you that you are misinterpreting because of a wrong viewpoint that now somehow it becomes burdensome rather than being a blessing in your life we could go through all the different commands in god's word and until you shift your viewpoint you will always see them as a burden instead of a blessing the reason why some people don't tithe is because you think it's a burden it's not a burden it's a blessing the reason why some of you have not uh gotten your sex life down to one partner is because you think god is making your life smaller and it feels like a burden it's not a burden it's a blessing the reason why you continue to hold on to unforgiveness and resentment and offense and bitterness is because you feel better about yourself caring those things i'll tell you what the point of change today is the day that you get a new viewpoint about what god has told you if you'll forgive if you'll let it go you will be released it will be a blessing to you the pharisees were more focused on keeping the sabbath than they were with reaping the point of the sabbath they had the wrong viewpoint and here's jesus jesus is like don't you know the story of david you guys are all really impressed with him well i come from his lineage but i am superior to him so i'm gonna do what he did but i'm not gonna give you the same reason as to why he did it because i'm not just the messiah that you know i'm also the son of god so i want you to understand that this thing called the sabbath guess what you weren't created for it no it was created for you it was always meant to be a gift to your life it was always meant to be a blessing to your life it was never meant to be a burden all of the practices all of the habits they are not to be a burden they are to be a blessing you weren't created for them they were created for you you weren't created for solitude was created for you meditation you weren't created for meditate meditation was created for you do you have the right viewpoint i wonder how many of you right now the reason why you're not growing in these categories because you're the wrong viewpoint and you keep seeing these blessings from god these gifts from god as burdens and jesus let me just set the record straight you weren't created for the sabbath this sabbath was created for you and then he said something so bold he's like i am the lord of the sabbath so uh actually you and your self-righteous full of pride arrogant missing all why i'm here accusing me the one who created this thing called the sabbath as to what i can do on this sabbath uh you've missed it i am the lord over it i created it i made it i can do whatever i want with it in fact jesus has given us something bigger he's saying the sabbath is not confined to a day the sabbath is now found in a person so no matter where you're at no matter what you're doing in jesus you can find sabbath this is why he says in matthew chapter 11 oh watch this this is just good what does jesus say are you tired are you worn out burned out on religion come to me get away with me and you'll recover your life i'll show you how to take a real rest it's not going to happen going on vacation somewhere it's not going to happen it's going to happen in jesus walk with me and work with me watch how i do it learn the unforced here's the word rhythms of grace get your life on beat i won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly jesus is being bold and he's being loud you got the wrong viewpoint let me just tell you the first point of change is to change your viewpoint as you change your viewpoint as you begin to see god's word not as a burden but as a blessing all of your life starts to get in rhythm do not miss the point ladies and gentlemen you were not created for the sabbath the sabbath was created for you jesus came for you jesus wants to bring rest to you right now today somebody give god some praise in this place i love jesus because he doesn't just say it he's now going to display it mark chapter three verse one we're just walking through the text we've stepped into the next chapter it says another time jesus went into the synagogue and a man with a shriveled hand was there some of them were looking watch this please underline this in your bible we're just teaching today some of them were looking for a reason to accuse jesus so they watched him closely to see if he would heal them heal him on the sabbath jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand stand up in front of everyone then jesus asked him which is lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do evil to save life or to kill but they remained silent he looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts said to the man stretch out your hand he stretched it out and his hand was completely restored three points have changed the first point is your viewpoint your second second point of change is your stand point your stand point standpoint speaks to the to the mental state it speaks to your attitude or it speaks to your beliefs about something how you judge something the scripture says that on another occasion it was the sabbath they were in the synagogue and as jesus comes into the synagogue there's a man there who has a shriveled hand we've talked for many weeks about how people viewed sicknesses or disabilities they they they said your sickness or your disability had to do with the sin in your life because you have sinned in your life that that's why your your hand is shriveled and as jesus comes into the synagogue the scripture says that this man there with a shriveled hand was there in the synagogue but notice what it says it says the pharisees who always miss the point who are so full of pride they begin to look for a reason to accuse jesus i just felt like saying it this way what are you looking for today what are you looking for today i've just noticed that um what you look for you tend to find it's amazing that these guys are are in the synagogue but they're in the synagogue for all the wrong reasons which tells me that you could be in church but you can be in church for all the wrong reasons it tells me that you can go to crew but you can be in crew for all the wrong reasons you can go to grill trap you can grill check for all the wrong reasons you can be on a team but you can be on a team for all the wrong reasons what are you actually looking for they came to church that day looking for a reason to accuse jesus looking for a reason to see where he would do it not how they wanted they were resisting the change that he was bringing they were full of pride they were full of self-righteousness and they were looking for a reason to accuse him what are you looking for today are you looking for a reason to believe are you looking for a reason to doubt are you looking for a reason to be to be happy are you looking for a reason to be sad are you looking for a reason to worship or are you looking for a reason to worry are you looking for a reason to celebrate or are you looking for a reason to criticize watch this are you looking for a reason to stay or are you looking for a reason to leave whatever you go looking for you tend to find it these pharisees so full of pride not progressing stuck in their self-righteousness up on their mountain top looking down upon everybody else missing the whole point of why jesus came jesus said i didn't come for the healthy i came for the sick they liked that answer they said oh okay that's why he's hanging out with all those bad people they didn't recognize that he was actually saying it to them i came for you you're just so sick you can't even tell you're sick [Music] it's self-deception it's self-righteousness it's called religion and religion prevents us from growing religion prevents us from changing religion prevents us from becoming here's jesus he walks in and he he knows why they're there but he looks at that man and as he looks at that man he says hey stand up in front of everyone now when he says this it doesn't seem once again like a big deal to you and i but as he's doing this everyone knew what he was about to do and according to jewish custom the only way that you could help somebody on the sabbath was that if it was a life or death situation this man's shriveled hand is not a life or death situation meaning the rules of that day would say jesus do this healing on sunday on the next day wait for the sabbath to finish and then you can heal him but jesus is like nah um it might not be a life or death matter but it matters to me and so when he tells the man to stand up the man who's getting ready to stand up he fully understands that jesus is breaking the law according to the custom and for the man to stand up would mean that he is putting himself under the authority of jesus he's being obedient to his will which means now as he stands up he's putting himself in the place of being on trial and i don't know if he went there that day hoping to be put on trial but something tells me that he went there that day saying just the hope of having my whole body healed is worth the sacrifice that i might have to pay to stand up and stand out and can i just tell everybody that jesus has been looking at a generation for 2 000 years and he is always looking at a generation and he is always calling every one of us to stand up and stand out he says if you're gonna follow me you have to actually be willing to let people know that you're unashamed you're unafraid you're unapologetic about what they might say or about what it might cost you this thing following jesus is gonna cost you some stuff you're gonna have to sacrifice some stuff in this moment this man as he stands up and as he stands out what he is declaring is he's declaring my standpoint is that jesus is who he said that he is see the reason why he calls us to stand up and stand out is because jesus always wants to know what your standpoint about him is what's your mental thought about jesus what's your your attitude towards jesus watches what's your belief towards jesus [Music] because the point of change is when you define your standpoint listen if you can't stand on your point [Music] you don't have a standpoint i put my hope in jesus i put my faith in jesus if he calls me to stand up and if he calls me to stand out my faith is not words my faith is an action my faith is found not in just what i say but in what i do and this might cost me everything and i might be critiqued and i might be judged and i might be completely misinterpreted but i believe who jesus is and the moment the man stood up and the moment that he stood out he was declaring my standpoint about jesus is that not only is he the messiah but he is the son of god you gotta love jesus jesus says stretch out your hand and the man stretches out his shriveled hand isn't it interesting jesus doesn't tell him what hand to put out there's a lot of us jesus they put out your hands like let me let me put out my good hand but if he would have put out his good hand he would have missed the whole point of the moment jesus wasn't trying to heal his good hand jesus came for his bad hand but how many know that we can't expect jesus to heal what we refuse to reveal my dentist goes to vue church shout out to omar vazquez i just feel like today would be a good day of confession for our church i have tartar build i have plaque i'm not proud of it at all [Music] every time i go to the dentist i'm like this is oh man i don't want omar to see just how bad my teeth really are i have to open my mouth i have to show him no i have not flossed every day like you told me no i have not gotten the soft bristles as you have prescribed i'm still using hard bristles because when i bleed i feel like i'm accomplishing something [Music] yes i know i'm months hopefully years away from having to have a gum replacement surgery i i know it all [Music] but if i don't come and expose the mess in my mouth it's never gonna get cleaned it's never gonna get healed it will just stay dirty there's always this point of vulnerability there's always this point that i have to expose if i want it cleaned i've got to expose that which is unclean stretch out your hand i think if it was church in 2021 a lot of us would have put up our good hand it's my good hand put the bad hand in our pocket but change doesn't come from that moment change happens the moment you decide that your standpoint about jesus has become greater than the shame about yourself [Music] my standpoint about jesus is that not only is he the messiah not only has he come to rescue me from my sin but he is healer and he is god in the flesh and although my hand is shriveled and although my mouth is dirty and although my life is unclean i recognize today that my belief about him and my attitude about him it is far greater than the shame i have about myself therefore i will extend and showcase all of which is broken all of which is corrupt all of which is dirty why because i want to grow i want to become who he's called me to become i don't want to miss the point and so from a place of humility and from a place of vulnerability and from a place of brokenness in a place of shame i come out of hiding but as i step into the light i might walk lighter i might catch the rhythm of his grace the scripture says he stretches out his hand and instantly immediately mark loves that word immediately immediately his hand was completely restored it was completely restored it was completely restored it's interesting because jesus he asked some questions jesus knew what they were thinking knew the reason why they had come knew that they were looking for a moment to accuse him so before he does the miracle he asked them a question he's setting precedent he's trying to get to our hearts he's trying to give you the whole point of change it's not just to look different it's to be different i don't want to be a part of a church that can fake it till we make it i want to be a part of a church that's authentic and real and saying i came here to really get the point jesus says which is lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do evil to save life or to kill jesus then of course this can wait till tomorrow but the whole point of the sabbath the whole point of the principle the whole point of the practice is that it would result in charity and love and compassion of our fellow man and if this man is here today we can heal him in this moment i think you've missed it is the point of the sabbath to do good or to do evil it would be evil not to help the man if we could but then he says something it's kind of confusing he says to save life or to kill now nobody's life is at danger except for jesus jesus once again in his own subtle but piercing surgical way is looking at the pharisees looking at you looking at me saying it's it's amazing you're mad at me for about to heal this man but while i'm healing this man you're thinking of a way that you could kill me you tell me who got the sabbath wrong you tell me who missed the point that while i'm doing this good thing you're thinking an evil thing you're thinking a bad thing you're thinking the worst thing they're thinking how they can kill him and there was silence in the room because so often when our heart is checked there's no words to give because the conviction hits us so hard and the silence that falls of the room that nobody says heal him nobody says anything the man's just standing there in his shame the man just standing there embarrassed he stood out in front of everyone everybody's looking at him everybody sees him he shows me a picture of what a generation could look like would we stand there would we trust him would we follow him will we stand up with our weaknesses would we stand up with our negative tendencies and say all i have to give is what i am and so i give you everything jesus and if you can use a donkey and if you can use a rock and if you can use anything you can use me so here i am with my shriveled hand here i am with my deficiencies and my disabilities here and with my weaknesses here and with my problems but i'm standing here and i'm standing out trusting that you are who you said that you are my standpoint is you are who you said that you are [Music] jesus he he gets angry the scripture says and three points of change is your viewpoint how do you view god's word because if you're gonna change this year the change is going to happen when you start to see god's word not as a burden but as a blessing not as something that's trying to make your life smaller but something that's going to make your life bigger that is something that's trying to diminish what he wants to but something that's going to bring protection to your life it's not just your viewpoint it's your standpoint what's your standpoint about him are you willing to step up and step out are you willing to expose the weak areas of your life that he might bring strength and might bring healing to it if you continue to conceal it it'll never be healed you have to reveal it you have to expose it but it's not just your viewpoint it's not just your standpoint it's your boiling point [Music] it's your boiling point because jesus becomes angry and he's angry that there is such apathy in the room he is angry that people could be in church and miss the whole point he's angry that people could be there for all the wrong reasons that they could gather and take the time to put youtube on and gather and get to crew but miss the whole point and the whole point is to grow the whole point is to improve the whole point is to become the whole point is to love god and the whole point is to love others and what happens mark chapter three verse six watch this because this is the boiling point then the pharisees went out and began to plot with the herodians how they might kill jesus so we see on one hand jesus is angry at the apathy but the last verse of our study today is now the pharisees joined with the herodians and they put together a plot of how to kill jesus now it might not seem like that big of a verse to you but you've got to understand what's happening the pharisees as we know is the religious sect of the day they're not bad guys they're just full of pride they represent you and i we do it all the time we think we're better than we are and we stop growing we stop becoming and they become self-righteous and from the mountaintop they wonder why they don't grow and why they don't become it's because they're not broken it's because they're not humble but the herodians they were allies of king herod herod was one of the most wicked kings who lived in that day they represented the world they represented paganism and secularism they represented a society that would push god out and here we see what takes place that there's a boiling point that happens and the boiling point is is that these people have become so angry with jesus that we now see religion and the world join forces because you better understand that neither religion nor the world have any tolerance for jesus you better understand that just because somebody's doing something in the name of god doesn't mean that they come in the name of jesus and you better recognize that when the world and religion join forces the only people they come to attack are grace kids people that are walking with the holy spirit why because boiling points matter what makes you angry matters what ticks you off matters you're either angry with jesus or you're angry at jesus you can't have it both ways and when we hit boiling points we got to ask ourselves is my anger coming from a righteous place or is it coming from an unrighteous place i don't know about you but i want to live my life with a righteous anger that when i look upon my city when i look upon my world that i wouldn't sit on my mountain top or my soapbox and judge people but rather i would run to the brokenness and i would run to the pain and i would run to those that are hurting that i would open my eyes that i might be a gift that i might be a blessing that i might bring a solution to the problem let religion fall off i don't want any part of this world but i don't want any part of this religion either i come before you today empty of myself humble saying god fill me up i'm either angry with jesus or angry at jesus what's your boiling point because jesus is the point of change he's the whole point when you meet him everything changes when you see like him everything changes when he becomes your standpoint when you stand on him he is the only point worth standing on he is a solid rock that when the storms come you will not bend you will not break it's not a principle it's a person [Applause] but today because i follow him and because i serve him my life is full of passion i go into monday full of passion i go into two i hit hump day full of passion because i don't care where he's placed me i don't care what my job title is i am angry about the fact that there are people walking around carrying shame when they don't have to and that anger it results in a godly passion that everything i do i do it with passion everything i do i throw my entire self into it everything i do i see it as a cause not just a cause that's worth dying for a cause that's worth living for that i want to give myself to it it's called the point of change and jesus is the point of change he changes our viewpoint from religion to relationship he changes our standpoint from ashamed to confident he changes our boiling point from unrighteousness to righteousness it's the point of change what's the point today the point is is that you would grow point is is that you would become the point is that you would improve the point is is that you would be like jesus i wonder today can you see god's word through a new lens can you get a new viewpoint new perspective what's your standpoint on jesus [Music] what's your boiling point he wants to use your life before he does something through it and gives you a story to tell he wants you to live that story because he's going to do something in you don't miss the moment we're going to worship i don't want you to miss the moment don't reach for your phone don't capture it for somebody else what's god want to do and you don't don't just seek to look different be different it starts today the point of change it starts today your head's bowed your eyes are closed wherever you're at today god i pray for people lord i pray for people right now god all over this place wherever they're tuning in from wherever they're watching from right now god if they're watching on youtube lord if they're watching on zoom right now god i pray lord that you would begin to move in their life lord that they would begin right now god lord to hear from heaven jesus that you'd convict that you'd speak to them lord let something arise on the inside of him lord give them a passion lord for you like never before today god it's the point of change we're at the point of it lord the whole point is that we might grow that we might become lord i pray for people right now new perspectives lord new belief lord let them double down on their belief in you god god i pray they would seek you out give them a reason to worship lord give them a reason to believe god give them a reason to stay today god i pray that today as a church lord that once again our heart would break for what your heart breaks for god that we would seek out a revival that we'd live our life lord on purpose for your glory and for your people that people might encounter you that people might meet you today jesus we're putting all of our trust we're throwing all of our life into your hands today god god we believe that today right now here and now lord you can change us god we come to you humble god we come to you today lord vulnerable lord exposing our weak areas [Music] 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 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: 27,760

Rating: 4.9641485 out of 5

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Id: Zm401ZvZFiU

Length: 55min 34sec (3334 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 07 2021