Dharius Daniels - I Wasn't Ready

I want to read a passage of scripture—the words of Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, verse 21. We’re really trying to help you in this series. We create Beast Mode action plans each week for each series, and the hosts put those links in the chat. We talk about them periodically throughout the service. We want you to download them so that you can actually put these teachings into practice throughout the week. This one is going to be an important one today. Matthew 18:21: Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, «Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?» Jesus answered, «I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.» One translation says 77 times. One more time, Peter asked Jesus, «How many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?» Jesus said, «No, fam, not seven times, but 77 times.» So I want to tag a title to this text; I want to use it as a launchpad to leap into our lesson today. I want to talk from the subject: «I Wasn’t Ready.» I want you to put that in the chat—just drop it there: «I Wasn’t Ready.» I was 77 times; I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t ready. Family, the heart of this series of sermons that we’ve been attempting to articulate over the past several weeks can really be captured in the following phrase: this simple sticky statement—God’s plan for our life not only requires our best efforts; yes, it does. It also requires us to become our best selves. Stepping into the fullness of God’s plan, possessing God’s purpose not only requires our best effort; it does require effort. Faith is exposed through your effort. James says faith without works is dead; if you believe, your belief is going to produce a corresponding action. So, effort is important, but possessing God’s purpose requires more than our best efforts; it requires us to become our best selves. I believe this particular passage that we just read exposes us to a critical key to becoming the best version of ourselves. Here it is: the quality of your self, your person, is going to be based on the condition of your heart. Pastor, what did you see? I just saw that in Jesus' words here in Matthew 18. Jesus—I’m summarizing Jesus' statements here—says the quality of your life is going to be based on the condition of your heart. Notice I didn’t say the degree of your success is going to be based on the condition of your heart. You can have big success and a small heart. Notice I did not say the size of your influence is going to be based on the condition of your heart, because a person can have big influence and a small heart. But the quality of your life, yourself, is going to be based on the condition of your heart. When Peter asks Jesus this question in the text, Jesus gives Peter an answer that exposes us to a heart habit we must all adopt if we want to live with health. Jesus here gives Peter a key to strengthening our emotional immune system. You see, I remember at the beginning of this global pandemic, I was addressing our congregation while walking out of one of our locations in New Jersey. One of the members of our spiritual family, a trainer, Bristol Jenkins, and I were talking. Bristol’s an amazing trainer; I worked with him for years, and he’s into functional fitness and holistic health. Bristol told me, «Pastor, everything everybody’s talking about is important— the distancing, the mask, and whatever measures need to be put in place—but there’s something else that no one’s talking about that is more important than all the measures that are being put in place.» He said, «Pastor, it’s people strengthening their immune systems.» He said, «Because for some people, exposure to this might be inevitable,» meaning that they could take all the measures they can to prevent being exposed to it, but a child can bring it home, or they can get it unintentionally at work, or they can get in the wrong car at the wrong time. He said, «So when that happens, they need an immune system strong enough to defend them from what they could not avoid being exposed to.» That’s how your immune system works—it’s your line of defense against those things that come to steal your health. Just as it is physically, so it is emotionally. You need a strong emotional immune system because there is something in this life you’re not going to be able to avoid, and that is offense. It’s like a virus. You can do everything within the context of your capability to try to avoid it—you can be selective with your friends, be strategic about what activities you engage in, and where you go. But the scriptures are clear that it is impossible for you to live without offense. Defense very often is the result of perceived or real injury. Sometimes you haven’t been injured, or sometimes you have actually been affected. Am I making sense? Jesus is saying that because this is going to happen, you’re going to be lied to; you need to deal with it. I said this before: you can’t be used by God without being used by people. You’re going to be exploited; get ready for it.