Dharius Daniels - Don't Just Sit There

Matthew 14:28 begins in the middle of a conversation. Peter says, «Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to the water.» «Come,» he said. Then Peter got out of the boat, began to sink, and cried out, «Lord, save me!» Well, in the reading of God’s word here, we don’t do the «touch your neighbor» thing a lot, and that’s simply because I have been in church so much that I’m tired of that. It’s like, «Can I hear an amen?» It’s like, «Tell your neighbor!» then «high-five your neighbor!» then «bear hug your neighbor!» and «put your arm around your neighbor!» or «put your neighbor in a chokehold!» You know how it goes. There are 75 people here, brother; I’m sorry, but that’s too many. I can’t do that. So, we are not going to do that. But I want you to say this so that everybody can hear you since our declaration is the topic of this teaching: say, «Don’t just sit there!» I want to talk about that today. Don’t just sit there, family. This series that we embarked upon several weeks ago is a series that is really explaining and exploring a principle that I’ve affectionately entitled the principle of exception. Someone say, «I am an exception.» This principle simply suggests that what happens, or what has not happened, to others does not dictate and determine what can happen for you. This is not a proclamation of superiority; it is a proclamation of differentiation. We aren’t saying we are better than others, but we are saying we can be different from them. Although we will go through some of the same experiences as everyone else, we do not have to have the same outcomes as everyone else. We can be the exception. Our God is the God of exceptions. The Bible is a book filled with exceptions, and we can be people who are exceptions in every area and arena of life. Someone is going to be the exception. What we are simply arguing is, «Why can’t it be me?» There is a term we are using to describe people who embrace this principle of exception. It’s called «water walkers"—people who refuse to be limited by the limitations that confine others; people who refuse to let categories and statistics dictate their destiny. People who say, «I will not allow my age in life, my stage in life, my socio-economic status, my educational background, my gender, my race, or my past mistakes to determine the possibilities of my future. I can be; I will be; I’ve been called to be; I’m anointed and empowered; I’m created to be the exception!» If you’re with me, say «yes!» Exception, exceptional, exceptional! We have been exploring one story for the past several weeks, one story in the Bible about two men who were exceptions: a man named Jesus and his apprentice, his follower, his disciple named Peter, who defied the odds, who walked on water, who walked on what other people drowned in. Today, as we further explore what they can teach us about being the exception, I don’t want to focus our attention on the two people who walked on the water. I want to focus on the rest of the group that stayed in the boat. Did you hear what I just said? Our attention today will not be focused on the two people that walked on water. I want to explore, examine, investigate, and interrogate the people in the boat and figure out why they just sat there. Because when you read this story, family, there’s a detail in verse 24 that I think is incredibly important yet often overlooked, and that detail is this: there were waves buffeting against that ship. It was a storm, and the ship was being damaged by the waves that were hitting it. The ship was possibly taking on water. This may mean that one of the reasons Peter got out of the boat is that he felt it was safer on the sea with Jesus than staying in the ship with others. So here it is: the disciples—are you ready? Okay, seven of you are. I said, are you ready? Okay, here it is: the disciples, 11 of them, are sitting in a ship that’s sinking. Before we judge them, I would contend that if we look long enough and objectively enough at our own lives, we’ve all found ourselves at stages and seasons where we’ve been sitting in something that’s sinking. All of us know what it’s like to be sitting in something and asking ourselves, «Why am I here? What am I doing? And why am I doing it with you?» Let me go to this side because all of us have found ourselves in seasons and situations where we’re sinking. Some of us know what it’s like to feel like we’re sinking spiritually, where we’re losing our spiritual vitality, fervor, and enthusiasm. We feel our spiritual muscles weakening, and we feel the self-sabotaging part of us strengthening and reawakening itself. Because the Christian doctrine of sanctification teaches that the old you is not eradicated; the old you just has to be arrested. You have to imprison the old you and keep the old you in solitary confinement. The truth of the matter is the old you is still there. I know we sing songs like, «Things I used to do, I don’t do anymore; places I used to go, I don’t go anymore.» I want to contend that you have not forgotten; you may not do what you used to do, but you have not forgotten how to do anything you used to do. And Paul says, «I die daily.» That means that I have…