Dharius Daniels - This Changes Nothing

We’re starting a series today called «Dream Chasers.» I feel like that’s what God put on my heart, and I want to spend some time sharing that with you today. There’s a scripture I want to read from the book of Jeremiah 29, Jeremiah chapter 29, and we’re going to begin reading at verse 10. Now listen, our mission here is to help as many people as possible change their lives so they can live, love, and lead like Jesus. This means, listen to me, this means we believe what God wants to do is more than just grow us; He wants to form us. He wants to shape us, right? Not just give us more spiritual knowledge, but to make us more spiritual people, right? We believe that one of the ways we do that is through the platform, through the pulpit, through the preaching and teaching of the gospel. So I want to be very clear that whenever your pastor—if I’m your pastor—whenever I teach and preach, I’m doing it not just to transmit information but praying that God would use it to bring about some transformation in our lives. I believe some of you may have been a caterpillar in a previous season, but this pandemic has been a cocoon from which you’re getting ready to emerge as a butterfly in Jesus' name. If somebody believes that, make some noise in the building and in your home!

So this is the word of God in Jeremiah 29, verse 10. It says, «This is what the Lord says: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,» declares the Lord, «plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.»

On this church anniversary, as we celebrate 15 years, I want to talk from this subject, this first sermon in this series called «Dream Chasers»: «This Changes Nothing.» I want the people in the room to say it so that those at home can hear this affirmation, this declaration, and this confession: «This changes nothing.» Come on, «This changes nothing!» One more time, «This changes nothing, nothing!» In Jesus' name.

You know, in this passage here in Jeremiah, we get to eavesdrop on a conversation that this gentleman named Jeremiah is having with God’s people. Contextually, God’s people are trying to cope with a catastrophe. The audience, Israel, who is the target of this epistle, has been defeated by Babylon and deported from their homeland to a place designated for those in the midst of Babylonian captivity. They’ve been overwhelmed by anxiety, seized with stress, and undermined by uncertainty. In the midst of wrestling with all of this worry, they receive a word from God through Jeremiah—separated from those they love the most, disrupted from a life they have become accustomed to, unsure about how things will be in the future.

And amid this turmoil, they hear that the prophet has something to say. You can imagine their enthusiasm, their anticipation, their excitement when they hear the prophet has a message because in seasons of suffering, I think many, if not most of us, want to know whether God has something to say. When my life is filled with fear and fatigue, I need to know; or we’d like to know, does God have something to say? When COVID comes in and disrupts my way of life as I know it, we want to know, does God have something to say? When stress and strain infiltrate and affect the intimacy of our family relationships, we want to know, does God have something to say? When we receive a diagnosis or prognosis that is not optimistic, we want to know, does God have something to say?

So can you imagine their enthusiasm and excitement in the midst of this season of suffering when they hear the prophet is coming? You can see them, use your imagination, sitting on the edge of their seats filled with anticipation, only to hear Jeremiah first say these words: «Prepare to stay a while.» Whoa, whoa, pause, pause, pause! What do you mean, «stay a while»? I need this to be fixed immediately! Come on, I need this to be addressed instantaneously! In the words of T.I., Joseph Clifford Harris, «I need this to be fixed expeditiously.» What do you mean, «prepare to stay a while»? God says to Jeremiah, «I know you’ve been defeated; I know you’ve been deported. I know you are filled with anxiety, uncertainty, and stress. But I want you to plant some gardens because you’re going to stay a while. I want you to build some houses because you’re going to stay a while. I want you to marry your children off because you’re going to be here a while.»

This seems so insensitive to me until after I did some reflection, and I got a revelation. So God’s articulation through Jeremiah wasn’t an expression of insensitivity; it was an expression of love. God is saying, «I love you too much to lie to you. I love you too much to tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear.» He says, «I know this is hurting, but I want you to prepare to stay a while.» And I know this is…