Dharius Daniels - The Path of Joy

Well, listen, I want you to join me in your Bibles at the book of Matthew, chapter number 25. Matthew, chapter number 25. I teach in series; it means I take one subject and spend weeks explaining and expounding on what the Bible has to say about it. We are in a series this Advent season on joy; it’s called «You Can’t Have My Joy.» We are encouraging you to be assertive and intentional about experiencing God’s best emotionally, and so this series is intended to help us do that.

Matthew 25:19 says, «After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.» So, he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, «Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.» His Lord said to him, «Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.»

I want to talk a little bit; this is part two of the series. Last week, we talked about the power of joy; this week, I want to talk to you about the path to joy, and we believe God is going to meet us in an unusual way. Family, I would like to begin this introduction with an interrogative: Is there anybody watching or resting in this room who is aware of the fact that your God is a promise keeper? I’m going to repeat it because I believe there are more than 24 people who believe that. I said, is there anybody here who is aware of the reality that our God is a promise keeper?

He’s not just the God who articulates promises; he’s a God who executes and implements those promises. He says what he means, and he means what he says. He is committed not just to verbal proclamations but to visible demonstrations. He’s not just one who talks about it; he’s one who is ready to be about it. Yeah, the Bible puts it this way in the book of Jeremiah: it says God watches over his word to perform it, meaning that when he speaks something, he watches over what he speaks. Whenever circumstances and situations in life threaten the fulfillment of the word he spoke, he will intervene in the affairs of human history and break natural rules and laws, making Jericho walls fall with a shout, making red seas part, making water come out of a rock, making manna fall from heaven, and making dead people come back to life because God is committed to keeping his promises. He’s a promise keeper, and I believe that revelation should cause a revolution.

I think we should rest easy, sleep better, and praise more passionately because we are convinced and convicted that the God we serve is a promise keeper. Yeah, but there’s something significant that we need to articulate in addition to the fact that God is a promise keeper. Are you ready? Although God is a promise keeper, some of his promises have provisions, conditions, and prerequisites. This means he is committed to doing his part, but sometimes his doing his part is predicated on us doing ours. I got one «Amen» there. The Bible refers to these as if-then promises: «If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.»

In other words, God is saying, «I am committed to doing my part, sitting on the edge of my seat, ready to do my part. If we are tag-teaming in a tag-team wrestling match, I’m outside the ring, ready for you to tag me in.» I wish I had at least seven wrestling fans who say, «His hands are over the rope, saying, 'Please tag me in! Please tag me in! ' Ready to be tagged in, saying: 'If you’ll just tag me, I’m ready to do my part; I just want you to meet the provision.'»

And I want you to catch this: God’s provisions are God’s paths to his promises, meaning when we follow the conditions, when we follow his instructions, his instructions are actually directions to what he promised. All we have to do is follow the instruction, the direction, the path, and then there are some lessons we bump into on a road called obedience. Is there anybody here honest enough to assess your life and say there are some things that I walked into that were not a part of a strategic planning session? They were not on my vision board. When people observe my activity and ask, «How did you end up there? How did you end up doing that? How did you get that?» sometimes I have to say I don’t even know; some lessons I just bumped into.

This is why, when I come to Change Church, I get a little enthusiastic every now and then because you don’t know, like I know, what I bumped into this week. It’s his provision; it’s his path to blessing, and understanding the path is so important. Andy Stanley wrote about this; he calls it the principle of the path. This is what he said: «Paths are so important; Direction, not intention, determines destination.» I got to catch this: direction, not intention, determines destination. It means I can have good intentions, but if I have bad directions, I’m going to end up at the wrong destination. Does that make sense? Right? You’ve seen that in people’s lives, and whenever you hear someone responding to someone in a way and they say, «Bless their heart.»