Dharius Daniels - Subduing Stubborness

I want to begin reading at verse number six. If you’re in the New Testament, John’s there twice: one close to the end of the Bible and the other toward the beginning. You want to go toward the beginning for those who actually have a Bible with paper. I know that’s becoming a little obsolete nowadays. It doesn’t matter what the Bible is in; it matters if the Bible is in you, right? So, whether it’s on paper, on a screen, or on flashcards, the word is the word, wherever you get it from. I just bring this paper with me because I’ve learned not to trust technology like that, right? As long as I’ve got the Bible, I can preach. I bring it up just in case my iPad gets possessed and needs an exorcism; sometimes that happens!

Yes, John 12, verse number… everybody good? You blessed? I’ve been praying for y’all; I mean that. John 12, verse 1 says, «Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’s honor. Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Jesus. Then Mary took a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume, and she poured it on Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair.» Listen to this: «And the house was filled with the fragrance of that perfume. But one of his disciples, Debbie Downer Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 'Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It’s worth a year’s wages.'» Listen to this: «He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; as a keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.» This is the reading of God’s Word. I want you to help me say the topic of today’s teaching. Let’s say it by faith. No, no, let’s say it by faith! I say it by faith. We’re going to say it; we’re going to say it by faith, okay? All right, let’s try it again. We’re going to say it by faith!

All right, my bad, my bad. Okay, as I said, thank you for being responsive. That’s my bad; I got that. Well, let’s say this by faith. «See, Lord, help me to subdue stubbornness.» I want to talk from this subject: «Subduing Stubbornness» today. One of my friends started a series; he pastors in North Carolina. He started a series this week called «Savage Jesus,» and he’s talking about the savage sayings of Jesus. This is going to be a savage sermon this afternoon: «Subduing Stubbornness.» Family, as I attempt to proclaim the truth that I think is contained in this passage, I want to employ the assistance of an amazing video that I believe will aid us in receiving and understanding the heart of today’s message. Just for a brief minute, would you turn your attention to the screens?

Okay, allow me to unpack what you just observed or to recap what you just witnessed. For those of you who may be somewhat familiar with what’s happening with that beautiful baby right there, for the benefit of brevity, we didn’t show the entirety of the video, so you don’t have the context of what’s actually transpiring here. You have a beautiful baby who obviously has an affinity for green apples. She sees an onion, assumes it’s an apple, and is relentless in requesting that her mother give her the apple. Her mom is consistently communicating to her, «This is not an apple.» She is pestering and persistent to the point that the mom teaches her through experience what she was trying to convey through instruction. The baby feels deprived; she feels restricted. She feels denied because she thinks she is not having the opportunity to receive what she is requesting, not realizing— not recognizing—that some things that look like apples are actually onions.

Have you ever thought something was one thing until you got close to it, and you discovered that the thing you thought would make you cry was the thing that actually caused you to cry? You know, it’s interesting because I’m assuming that the mother assumed, as I would, that once the child took one bite out of the onion, she would see, «This isn’t an apple.» But as you just witnessed, she continued to eat! Her eyes are watering, but she’s eating; her throat is not responding properly, but she’s still eating. Her mouth has to be burning, but she is still eating! What are you eating that makes you cry? You may be wondering what the significance of this story is to our sermon around breakthrough, and I would like to suggest that this toddler started to eat the onion out of curiosity, but she continued to eat the onion out of stubbornness.

Because stubbornness, ladies and gentlemen, will cause us to continue to tolerate things—to continue to ingest and digest things—because we don’t want the person who told us it was wrong to be right. Am I making sense? There are a couple of adjectives the Bible uses to describe stubbornness. One word is «hard-hearted.» That’s a word the Bible uses; it speaks about the hardness of Israel’s heart. Does that make sense? Another is «stiff-necked,» meaning that once their mind was set, it was extraordinarily difficult to change their way of thinking or seeing. This hard-heartedness or this description of being stiff-necked meant that they were unteachable, and people who aren’t teachable are people who will stay stuck in cycles.