Dharius Daniels - I MisUnderstood the Assignment

All right, guys, let’s go to the book of Jeremiah, chapter number 20, beginning at verse number 7. Jeremiah chapter number 20, starting at verse number 7, and I’m reading from the New International Version. This is what it says: this is Jeremiah talking. He said, «You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived. You overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out, proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, ‘I will not mention this word or speak anymore in His name, ’ His word is in my heart like fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.» I want to talk from this subject today. Are you all ready? Here it is: I misunderstood the assignment. I misunderstood! Clap your hands if you’re ready for God’s word! Everybody, in this series called «Headaches,» we’ve attempted to articulate a number of truths, and in our time together today, I want to reiterate one that I think is extremely important and yet often overlooked. This principle is captured in this axiom: it is one thing to have a headache because of something we did; it’s another thing to have a headache for simply doing something God told you. Family, I’m simply suggesting that every divine assignment is accompanied by some unique agitation. There is no such thing as a problem-free space. Whenever you change spaces, you are simply exchanging one set of problems for another. When you go from single to married, you will not experience the absence of problems; you simply exchange one set of problems for another. When you transition from working for someone else to working for yourself, you will not experience the absence of problems; you simply exchange one set of problems for the next. Am I making sense? And, ladies and gentlemen, it’s incredibly important that we wrap our heads around this because if not, we will not properly execute and understand divine assignments, assuming that you can have a calling without a cross. Did you hear what I just said? Here’s what the hymnologist said. I’m going to see if I have any old-school church girls here: «Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all this world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.» Jesus put it this way: «If any person wants to follow me, come on, let them deny themselves.» Is that in the book? «Take up their cross and follow me.» Darius, what is a cross? The cross is simply a metaphor. Remember, I’ve taught you this: there are three types of inconveniences in life—storms, thorns, and crosses. All our trouble fits within one of those three categories: it’s a storm, it’s a thorn, or it’s a cross. A storm is a temporary season of inconvenience intended to be used by the enemy to get us to act impulsively, because our impulsive activity in the storm will destroy us when the storm can’t. It is a temporary season of inconvenience. The key word is temporary; it came to pass. You got it? It came to pass! I said it came to pass! Some storms you just have to outlast. You’ve got to make a decision: at some point, one of us is going to quit first, and it’s not going to be me! At some point, something’s got to shift, and something’s got to change, and when it shifts and changes, I’ll still be standing. Is there anybody that has made a decision you’re going to have a stare-down with your storm and let the storm know, «I’ve come too far to turn around now»? That’s a storm! But then there’s a thorn, which the Apostle Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. It says, «Because of the abundance of revelations that were given to me, a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me.» He calls this unidentified issue a thorn. This is an instrument of agitation sent by the enemy to cause me to abandon my assignment. Messengers buffet me; to buffet means to strike repeatedly. It’s not killing me; it’s just bothering me. So it’s an agitation the enemy sends because he wants us to abandon the assignment due to the agitation. He wants us to say, «I don’t have to take this.» But then there’s the cross, which is the inconvenience you choose to endure because you value your calling more than comfort. You can pick up the cross, and you can let it down; you’re not in control of a storm, and you’re not in control of a thorn, but you are in control of the cross. There is no such thing as a calling without a cross. There is no such thing as a problem-free space. I’m simply exchanging one set of problems for another. Are you all okay today? Okay, I’m just trying to feel the vibe in the room; I just want to make sure you catch this. And, ladies and gentlemen, I am saying that there are some assignments that are creating headaches not because of the assignments themselves, but because of the way we see them. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with your assignment; maybe there’s something wrong with the way you see it. Some misery comes from misunderstanding the assignment, and we have a powerful picture of this in the book of Jeremiah. This gentleman named Jeremiah is introduced to us in an amazingly impactful way. I mean, the tone and tenor of his calling is one of the most profound in all of Scripture. God speaks to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1, saying…