Dharius Daniels - I Need to Lose a Lot

Genesis 13, verse 5 says: «Now Lot was moving about with Abram. He also had flocks and herds and tents, but the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s, and the Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in that land. So Abram said to Lot, 'Let’s not have any quarrel between you and me or between your herders and mine. We are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.' This is the reading of God’s Word.

In part 3 of this series called „Headaches,“ I want to teach from the topic today, „I Need to Lose a Lot.“ Family, I regularly repeat an axiom that I think is worth reiterating this Sunday, and that is: There are three ways you can live your life—sinking, surviving, or thriving. Culture’s way, the church’s way, the king’s way. Living your life culture’s way leads to sinking; living your life church’s way leads to surviving; but living your life at level three, the king’s way, leads to thriving. I believe I’m speaking to some people today who would adamantly assert, 'It’s level three for me. I’m sick of sinking, I’m tired of surviving, I’m ready to thrive. It’s my season for thriving. I sense thriving; I have an appetite to thrive. I’m allergic to anything that isn’t thriving. I get concerned when I’m around people who don’t want to thrive. I want the thrivers to make some noise! Drop some fire in the chat. It’s level three for me—the king’s way.'

The king’s way, family, is different and distinct from culture’s way. For example, in culture, the way up is up. If you want to exalt yourself, you need to elevate yourself. But when you live the king’s way, you understand that the way up is down. If I humble myself, God will exalt me in due season. Is anyone due for your season of exaltation? In cultures, when you live life the culture’s way, listen to me, you have to take to get. But when you live life the king’s way, you give to get. 'Give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall men give unto your bosom.' In culture, you have to gain to gain. Are you ready for where I’m getting ready to go? When you live life the king’s way, you lose to gain. 'For he who wants to save his life must be willing to lose his life, because the one that loses his life saves his life.'

Please hear me: When you’re living the king’s way, there are times when your addition will come through subtraction. I want to announce to everyone under the sound of my voice something different and distinct from what you may regularly hear in sacred spaces all over the world. Maybe it’s not your season of multiplication; maybe it’s your season of subtraction. But if you get a revelation of how God does things in the kingdom, you won’t have a pity party when you have a subtracting season. You’ll have a praise party, because you know that if God takes, He’s getting ready to give. I don’t know what needs to be subtracted from your life, but I want to tell somebody here: God will never take something from you that you need. Did you hear what I just said? Yes, He may take something from us that we want; He may take something from us that we lean on and depend on; He may take things from us that we want to keep. But my God, if He takes it from you, it means that He’s getting ready to replace it with Himself. Even if He doesn’t replace it with anything else, He said, 'I’m going to step in, and I’m going to be a lawyer in the courtroom, a doctor in the sick room, a bridge over troubled water.'

I don’t know what needs to be subtracted from your life today, family, but we’re in this series called „Headaches,“ and I need to identify something that I think is extremely important. Some of us may need to consider what needs to be subtracted from our lives. For some of us under the sound of my voice, there’s something we need to lose. Some of us need to lose a lot because some of your headaches come from humans. I’m trying to see which way to go with this. Let me talk to the online audience. I said, some of your headaches come from humans.

Our foundational text here in Genesis gives us some insight into this issue. This text exposes us to an experience between a man named Abram and his nephew named Lot. There are many angles we could take to explore the richness of this story, but for the purpose of this preaching presentation today, I want to risk oversimplifying a reality in this passage and emphasize this one area: Who is Lot? Because a lot—excuse my bad English, but good theology—sometimes one Lot is costing you a lot. I’ll say it again: Sometimes one Lot is costing us a lot. It is only when we deal with the Lot that we can address the Lot that we’re losing. Dr. Darris, who’s Lot? We’re going to explore Lot a little bit more in this text, but for the purpose of our presentation, here’s a working definition of a Lot.»