Prepare Night 1 // Dr. Dharius Daniels [Message]

[Music] anybody have any praise left for Jesus tonight listen so incredibly excited to be here I'm really honored and I'm honored for several reasons the first of which is the respect and admiration that I have for the great leadership that God has given this this house great leader great people great spiritual family heard about him long before I met him through pastor Jacob and incredibly excited to have the opportunity to be here honored by the trust that he's demonstrated to allow me to contribute to what God is is doing here and as we were sitting in the back and I saw so many of you out for prayer I said to myself this is not normal and so I think one of the things I don't think it's arrogant to recognize the uniqueness of a thing arrogance isn't ignorant of what you have arrogance comes when you forget who gave it to you and so God has done a unique thing here and goodness is God's nature gratitude should be our response do you love your church love your spiritual family God is doing great things here this is incredible and if I lived in Texas this would be my church straight up I'm telling you right now I'll be in here somewhere getting it in what a great house and I'm glad to be here and I'm going to be continuing to pray for you and with you over these next three days consistency is the key that opens the door to the next level in anything and I think it's incredibly important to realize how significant these three days are and how God can use three days of spiritual focus to do in three days what could not be done in three years when we are undistracted focus and when we lean in and draw nigh to God draws nigh to us how many expecting great things over these next three days so there's something on my heart that I want to share it I want to read a brief part of Scripture brief story in Scripture found in the Gospel of Matthew I want to read a few verses starting at verse 27 and I'm gonna be reading from the New International Version of the scriptures Matthew chapter 9 verse 27 it says this it says as Jesus went on from there two blind men followed him calling out have mercy on us son of David and when he had gone indoors the blind men came to him and he asked them do you believe that I am able to do this yes Lord they replied then he touched their eyes and said according to your faith let it be done to you and their sight was restored and their sight was restored and their sight was restored I want to talk and teach from this topic tonight I need it back I need it back a family I've recently been wrestling with this concept affectionately entitled a theology of achievement and this concept rests in the revelation that God expects us not just to be good stewards of our time and of our treasure but he also expects us to be good stewards of our talent in other words it is his expectation that we make full use of the gifts the talents and the acquired skill that he is graciously given to each and every one of us not to do so would be to say to God you could have taken some of what you've given me and given it to someone else who would have done more with it I am contending family that the graveyard is not just filled with unfulfilled excuse-me filled with tombstones the graveyard is filled with unfulfilled potential and whenever an individual makes a decision to live in a way that is inconsistent with God's best for their life no matter what word they use to describe it the only appropriate word that applies is settling settling is dictating your own destiny settling is putting a period where God wants to put a comma settling is saying because this is good enough for me god I want this to be good enough for you but I want to tell someone in this incredible church tonight that God has made two great and investment in you for you to sit soak and settle there is absolutely no way he has gifted you the way he's gifted you and empowered you the way he's empowered you and aided and assisting you to overcome everything you've had to overcome just for you to sit and settle you cry too much to settle you've learned too much to settle gods expose you to too much to settle there are too many people you have to help so you cannot settle there are doors you have to open you cannot settle there are ways you have to make for others you cannot settle and maybe God is preparing you for something he has not exposed you to you and you cannot settle because your eyes haven't seen and your ears haven't heard and your heart has not conceived what God has in store for you and I just came from New Jersey by way of Florida to tell someone tonight do not settle if you're feeling me already give God a handclaps of praise in the house and as I've been wrestling with this concept I've been asking myself if I were to use scripture as a case study I've been asking myself I've been asking myself what is it in Scripture that separated those who settled from those who did not those who reached their potential from those who did not those who lived extraordinary lives from those that lived ordinary lives and there are a number of words that came to my mind but there is one word that stuck out head and shoulders above the rest and that word is courage the greatest exploits were not done by the most gifted the greatest exploits were done by the most courageous David was not the most gifted warrior but he was the most courageous one when a man named Joshua assumed leadership over Israel God gave him a set of marching orders and he did not tell Joshua to be anointed because he already was he didn't tell him to be competent because he already was he didn't tell them to be anointed because he already was but he told him to be strong and to be courageous because he knows without courage it does not matter how gifted you are how skilled you are how capable you are how competent you are if you don't have the courage to step out in faith and do what God's called you to do and be who God has called you to be and the greatest expression of courage was on a hill called Calvary on a cross with a man named Jesus ladies and gentlemen Jesus demonstrates to us that courage at his core is an expression of faith faith always shows up encourages clothes faith always shows up looking like courage and I think Jesus teaches us something through his act of courage on the cross the most courageous act ever known to man the most courageous act in human history to go on a cross to go in a grave with full confidence that the God who let you go there is not the God who will make you stay there that if he allowed you to experience a death it's because he has already arranged a resurrection and Jesus was courageous enough to work the process is there anyone here tonight that believes that for every death God has a resurrection in your life listen it's interesting because Jesus is courageous act is the ultimate expression of faith and I think it challenges us to do something I think it challenges us not just to have faith in Jesus but maybe as we embark in 2019 is teaching us to have faith like Jesus isn't it interesting that we are encouraged to follow Jesus example and to emulate all the character traits of Jesus love like Jesus be meek like Jesus be humble like Jesus but we rarely here believe God like Jesus it's one thing to have faith in Jesus it's another thing to have faith like Jesus and there is no objective reading of the New Testament that can bring anyone to any other conclusion than the power and the importance of faith nothing moved God like faith not to believe God Martin Luther says is to insult God it is an insult to the credibility of God's character not to believe him to believe God is to worship him it is to say you are able to do what you said you can do and you are willing to do what you said you can't do nothing moved God like faith in mark chapter 5 there's this story of a woman who has this issue of blood for 12 years she went from Doctor to doctor made great investment only to not get better but to only get worse and the Bible says that she heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by and she said to herself if I could touch the hem of His garment I shall be made whole she said to herself because there are times when no one else will encourage you that you have to encourage yourself she said if I could touch the hem of His garment I shall be made whole she didn't even say if I can touch him she said I just need to touch the hem that's touching him if I can touch what's touching him then I can touch him and this is why church is important this is why spiritual family is important this is why community is important because there will be times and seasons where we're dealing with and we feel like we can't touch God and when you can't touch him thank God for a spiritual family and the church when you can touch someone that's touching him when someone can agree with you in faith and if you are glad and grateful to be a part of a spiritual family where you can touch those that are touching him so that he can touch you why don't you pause for a minute and thank God for the hem of His garment she she said if I could touch the hem of His garment I'll be made whole and she pressed her way through this crowd and as Jesus was walking she touched the hem of His garment and Jesus stopped and he asked the question he said who touched me and the disciples who were with them said what do you mean who touched you there are multitude of people who are following you everyone is touching you but jesus said these words he said no I felt virtue go out of me in other words a lot of people are touching me but when faith touches me it feels different that everybody's doing the same thing but when they do it with faith I'd get a different result I felt virtue go out of me and he walks up to the woman and looks at her and he says to her these words your faith has made you whole he didn't say my power he said your faith which meant that your condition could have remained unchangeable not because I didn't have the power but because you didn't have the faith if you read mark 5 you will see Jesus was not even trying to heal her he was on his way to Jarius his house to heal Jarius daughter who was 12 years old but while he was focused on one miracle he was able to give another miracle because faith will enable and empower you to experience things you didn't even expect and I don't know if you know this but God is full of surprises and I know some of you like me and you like to plan and you like to strategize but I want to tell you that maybe 2019 is the year you allow God's plans to supersede your plans because God's plans for you are to prosper you God's plans for you or to give you a hope and a future and his plans are always better bigger and brighter than our plans but the truth of the matter is he attributed the miracle to faith there's another example in mark chapter 10 what Jesus is going out of this place called Jericho and he runs into the son of Timaeus his name was Bartimaeus and he was blind and he was a beggar and the scripture says that he heard that Jesus was passing by and he said Jesus son of Nazareth have mercy on me and the disciples who were around Jesus they said to him be quiet he got louder Jesus son of David have mercy on me they said be quiet he got louder Jesus son of David have mercy on me and the Bible says and Jesus stood still he cried out to Jesus they said be quiet he got louder Jesus Stood Still he cried out to Jesus they said be quiet he got louder Jesus stood still he cried out to Jesus they said be quiet he got louder Jesus stood still he cried out to Jesus they said be quiet he got louder Jesus stood still he cried out to Jesus they said be quiet he got louder Jesus stood still and he cried out to Jesus they said be quiet he got louder Jesus stood still he cried out to Jesus they said we shouldn't make that much noise in church he got louder Jesus stood still he cried out to Jesus they said it doesn't take all of that he got louder and Jesus stood still he cried out to Jesus they said that's too much clapping on a Monday night he got louder and Jesus stood still is there anybody here that wants to give Jesus the kind of place that makes him stand still I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ it is the power of God unto salvation and Jesus calls the blind man to himself he says what do you want me to do for you he says that I might receive my sight and he said to Bartimaeus your faith has healed you example after example in the New Testament about the priority and the preeminence of faith it is the foundation upon which Christianity rest salvation cannot be experienced without it we are saved by grace through faith God makes the deposit of salvation into the bank account into the world faith is the withdrawal slip that allows you to draw out what God has deposited in the entire world salvation cannot be experienced without it prayers are not effective without it God cannot even be pleased without it for the Scriptures teach that without faith it is impossible to please God someone say faith and I think there is no greater example of this than in our foundational passage in Matthew chapter number 9 we read it together Matthew gives an account of two blind men it's it's interesting here because Matthew says as Jesus went on from there verse 27 says two blind men followed him I'm confused you should be confused too it says two blind men two blind men are following Jesus that's verse 27 verse 28 says when he had gone indoors the blind men came to him I'm more confused I'm confused because I'm wondering how were you following Jesus if you're blind verse 27 says they're following him while he's outdoors verse 28 says they follow him indoors how do blind men follow Jesus could it be that even though they didn't have natural eyesight they had spiritual eyesight and faith allowed them to see with the eyes in their heart even though they could not see with the eyes in their head could it be instead of suffering from learned helplessness faith enables you to look past what is not working so that you don't use your blindness as an excuse not to pursue God's best for your life but as opposed to looking the eyes that do not work faith allows you to see the legs that do work and the ears that do work and the arms that do work instead of complaining about what does not work you begin to utilize what does work because God doesn't need anything you don't have to do what he wants to do in your life faith overcomes obstacles that others would use as excuses not to experience God's best how many times have people stop pursuing God's best because of their proverbial blindness what they don't have what they don't possess these blind men follow Jesus and the Bible says that as they follow him they say something that significant they say have mercy on us son of David have mercy on us son of David have mercy on us son of David when they call him son of David they are saying to Jesus something very significant they are saying that we recognize you are not just some ordinary rabbi but you are the promised Messiah that was to come through the lineage of David they were saying even though we can't see you we see you and that because you are not just an ordinary rabbi you can do more than teach us you can also touch us because my issue of blindness cannot be fixed with teaching and there are some issues we all face that cannot be addressed just with teaching we need more than teaching from God we need the touch of God we need more than principles we need God's presence and is there anyone here that's grateful that you serve a God that is able to give you more than information but he can give you transformation that you can get from no other place and maybe these three days are going to be three days where God transforms some things in your life and takes you to places and spaces that your eyes haven't seen and your ears haven't heard listen to this it's interesting they say son of David which means they perceived him properly this is important because the God you see is the God you get the God you see is the God you get see there's an example of this in the Gospels where the scriptures in mark 6 talked about how Jesus goes to his hometown in Nazareth and he goes in the synagogue and he begins to teach in the synagogue and the scriptures say that as he teaches there are people who are present who are saying Ignis the carpenter's son in this Mary's baby and the scriptures say this that Jesus said a prophet is not without honor except for in his own home among his own people and this is one of the saddest statements in the New Testament it says this it says and he did not do many mighty miracles there he only laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them you see a few people got what was available for many did you hear what I just said a few people got what was available for many because some people there saw a carpenter other people there saw the Christ if you see a carpenter you can get your house fix if you see a Christ you can get your life fix because the god you see is the god you get and so the god you see is a god that can only save you then that's the god you'll get but if the gods you see is a God who can save you heal you transform you open doors for you make ways for you elevate you revive you restore you renew you redeem you regenerate you set your feet on a solid rock then that is the God that you will get and I want to know is there anyone here tonight that refused to settle for a god that is limited when our God is greater our God is stronger our God is bigger and I refuse to settle for a little God when the Bible promises me a big God God you see it's a god you get and so when these blind men actually Jesus to have mercy on them Jesus asked them a question he asked them this it's so interesting he says do you believe that I am able to do this a loaded statement do you believe I am able to do this the you matters the I matters am able matters and the this matters do you believe I am able to do this because just because you believe in me doesn't mean you believe I am able to do this you may have believed I was able to do that but this is not that but do you believe that I am able he did not ask do you believe this can be done he asked do you believe I am able to do it he is teaching us something I see in Scripture and that is the power of questions to strengthen faith faith strong faith does not mean you don't ask questions strong faith comes when you know what questions to ask because the questions you ask determine the conclusions you come to in the Old Testament there's an example of a man named Abraham who who God speaks to and says in his old age he's going to have a child his wife was past childbearing years and the scripture says as he excuse me as she is struggling with doubt as he is confused God strengthens their faith by asking them a question and the question he asks is this is there anything too hard for God see if you were to ask can a woman Sarah's age have a baby that's gonna bring you one answer but if you ask is there anything too hard for God that gives you another answer because the questions that you ask determine the conclusions that you come to and so the right question isn't can 2019 in Jesus name be the most fruitful and fulfilling year of my life the question is is there anything too hard for God the question isn't can you come back from your setback the question is is there anything too hard for God the question is it can I experience healing wherever there is brokenness the is is there anything too hard for God and I want you to know there is absolutely undeniably nothing that is too hard for our God so when he acts do you believe I'm able to do this they said yes Lord yes Lord now in verse 27 they called him the son of David but in verse 28 they called him Lord Lord his covenant name whenever you see it in all caps it is referring to the name God gave Moses when Moses asks God who shall I say sent me God said I am Moses put that in his nose app and then said what's next and God said I am that I am meaning I will be who I will be it is he gave him the name Jehovah that is his covenant name it is a prefix it is a name that describes who he commits to be in other words he was telling Moses you just need to know I am a covenant keeping God so right now you just need to know I'm Jehovah and whatever you need me to be I'm gonna be that so right now I'm giving you Jehovah blank because whenever you need me to be something I'm gonna have to be something different based on the season you're dealing with in your life so when you need victory I'll be Jehovah Nissi when you need peace I'll be Jehovah Shalom when you need presents I'll be jehova shamma I'll be whatever you need me to be and when they said yes Lord they were saying to Jesus you're not just Lord over my soul you're Lord over my eyes and you're Lord over my heart and you're Lord over my relationships you will be exactly what you need to be when you need to be it so notice what happens here they say yes Lord and verse 29 says then he touched their eyes and said according to your faith let it be done to you wait a minute according to your faith this is scary because he says it's like he's saying he's saying in response to your faith or in proportion to your faith let this be done to you meaning that faith was the determinant of whether or not you live the rest of your life blind or with sight this is what's scary they were probably good people probably kind people but they would have passed away and went to heaven living a blind life and they didn't have to they could have even found some theology to explain away their blindness they could have said God's providence it's God's will this is what God wanted me to experience and it'll make them feel better but they would have been wrong they would have lived blind and they didn't have to because they didn't believe for more good people but still blind their blindness represents their condition a state of living that was beneath God's intention for them blind and didn't have to well went to heaven blind and didn't have to and the scriptures say that as Jesus touched them their sight was restored now I ask myself why did the writer use the word restored here I mentioned mark 5 in in the Gospel of Mark the writer does not use the word restored he said to the one with the issue blood your faith has made you whole I mentioned mark T and what blind Bartimaeus and he didn't use the word restored he said your faith has healed you but here in Matthew 9 Matthew says their sight was restored so I feel safe and at least assuming that there was a possibility that at one point these men has sight but something happened and they lost it and there are a number of reasons there are a number of factors that can contribute to someone losing sight but the text doesn't tell us because maybe it doesn't tell us to make room for us so that we can see ourselves in the text because some of us in this place may have lost our sight - what happened that took your sight was a disappointment was it injury was it betrayal was it decision-making was it a setback there was a season where many of us saw things for us until we hit other seasons and those seasons took our sight and so now faith has become domesticated and tame and we're still following Jesus we're just blind you saw something for your marriage what happened it took your sight saw something for your career what happened that took your sight saw something for your ministry what happened that took your sight you envisioned you you envisioned you had a a picture of God's preferred future what what happened that took your sight and at this point in the story Jesus answers the cry of the heart of two blind men who got to a season in their life where they realize I need it back that I cannot go any further I have gone as far as I can go this way that I cannot go into 2019 blind I need it back the zeal the vigor the childlike faith the reckless abandon the faith that made Peter get out of the boat when eleven other people said steal he got out and he walked on water I need it back I needed back that that optimism that God will work everything for good I need it back that my life has meaning and significance and purpose I need it back to focus I need it back the belief that I was destined to make a great impact I needed that what took it was it mistakes was it missteps because if you believe your mistakes have the final say and you believe your mistakes are sovereign and not God God is suffering natural mistakes God is sovereign not your age God is sovereign not your missteps God has the final say I'm not saying we aren't following Jesus I'm saying that there are many people maybe not in this church but in God's Universal Church there are many people who are following Jesus blind you don't see the way you used to and I'm telling you to do what God has prearranged and planned for you to do for you to live a life without settling you need that back and I'm not just telling you [Music] it's what I read in the text I'm telling you what I know because what's weird is when you lose natural sight you know it when you lose spiritual sight you don't you don't know that that level of faith is not there until you have to reach for it and you realize I don't have it anymore [Music] I can't have lost it and not know it [Music] and when one Eastern theologian said you know you're maturing as a communicator when you start using the words of the Bible to describe what God has walk you through then it becomes more than theory and concept it's a conviction I'm not just telling you what I read them I'm telling you what I walked through pastor peso Jacob Arryn's had called me one day and we were talking about the Orlando launch which was a huge leap of faith for us Church we launched in Orlando and before we got off the phone he started praying for me he was praying and I was listening and when he finished praying I was silent and he asks me say Daris what's wrong I said I just realized something he said what you believe in this more than me I said what you just prayed over me I wouldn't have prayed over myself you know you've lost your sight when you start praying Tama prayers your prayers always tell off on your faith and people pray safe who've lost sight because they're protecting their heart from the disappointment that comes when things you believe for don't come to pass and that's what causes many of us to lose our sight many have lost sight in their present because of something that did not happen that they did expect or something that did happen that they didn't expect in their past it'll take your face when you pray for healing and the person you pray for passes if you're not careful it'll take your sight you believe God for the opportunity and that opportunity eludes you if you are not careful it'll take your sight and in the future you still follow Jesus but in the future you'll pray 10 prayers and that's dangerous because you're allowing your experience to shape your theology you allowed our experiences and not God's Word to tell us what God can do and I said I would have I've been praying all this time but I never prayed those kind of prayers over me so I set my expectations low enough so that if things didn't quite work out I wouldn't be as disappointed I was protecting my heart from disappointment and so are some of you as God would have it not too long after that I had to speak at a conference in Auckland New Zealand and one of the communicators there was a pastor in South America I think Guatemala cash alona and he was speaking through a translator so I don't even know of what the guy was saying he says what he really said I don't know oh but I I felt him I felt him and as I was sitting there I'll sit next to the guy that was with me I say it for where I am in this season of my life I need that I don't just want it to brag about it I need it I have stepped out of the boat I'll either walk on water or I drown I need that and I had it and I don't anymore some of you you're in the same place you need it you don't just want it back you need it back and I said according to Romans 1 11 the Apostle Paul writes a letter to the church at Rome and he says I long to see you that I might impart some spiritual gift to you but I might pray a prayer over you that the Holy Spirit who distributes the charismatic and the numantine goes the spiritual gifts that he would give you a spiritual gift that you need for the season that you're in and I told my friend I'm gonna pray according to Romans 111 that he prays over me that God would give me this gift because so much has happened in my life to break to break it I don't have time to go through all of that I just need this fix I'll tell you if you trace your greatest pain that greatest pain is the thief that's took taking your sight so as God would have it before I had a chance to ask him he said I feel like the Holy Spirit wants me to pray for you to receive the gift of faith an organic optimism that allows you to believe God in a way that you can't even explain and they're in Auckland New Zealand July of 2018 he prayed a prayer and God gave me this organic optimism to believe him in ways I can't explain and today before I walk off this platform well you give me the privilege I'm doing for you what cache loaner I know all of us want this the Holy Spirit distributes these gifts as he wills I know all of us want this but some of us in seizes you need it if that's you [Music] as an act of faith that's a sign of the lifting of your heart you just lift that lift those hands if that's you all over there's no I need this I need it back pasady respond lost it and I'm tired of living without it I need it back now father your word says you came to heal the brokenhearted and broken hearts break our faith so I pray that you go to the cracks and the crevices of pain and disappointment undealt with grief betrayal failure whatever has taken our sight and I pray that you perform supernatural surgery tonight that you'd heal the broken hearted in that you filled the cracks and crevices of our heart so that our heart as a heart that can hold faith and I pray according to Romans chapter one verse number 11 for an impartation of the gift of faith that your Holy Spirit would distribute that gift into the hearts of your people that from this night they will in an unexplainable way have this organic optimism for which there is no explanation they are able to believe you in ways they could not believe you before in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I thank you that as a result of this night lives are going to be mended doors are going to be open hope is going to be restored relationships are going to be reconciled destiny and purpose will be achieved we will not settle we will not put a comma where you put a period we thank you Father that faith is rising and lives are changing and we will never be the same we see again in Jesus name we pray amen [Applause]

Channel: Milestone Church

Views: 14,933

Rating: 4.8513932 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: xr6BBeYxhWM

Length: 53min 13sec (3193 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 14 2019