Dharius Daniels - RESET - Part 2

All right, man, listen. We are in part two of this teaching called «Reset,» and I told you last week that I wanted to start this week with verse number 11. It is incredibly important, so I’m going to jump right in, okay? We did all the foundational teaching last week, so go back to part one if you missed that, because we explained what the book of Romans is, who wrote the book of Romans, what the conditions were at the time, and what the author of this book, who is the Apostle Paul, is actually trying to convey. This is where my pastor teaches us that you can’t accurately understand what a text means until you know what it meant. You can’t say what it is saying if you don’t know what’s been said. For example, there is a scripture in the Old Testament that states, «A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man.» Some people took that and applied it in this way. This is not a judgment of that doctrine or that approach; it’s just an observation. They used it to justify women not wearing pants. So I’m not judging those who believe that; I am saying I land at a different place. The reason I land at a different place is that, in my opinion, that text can’t mean that, because it never meant that. Back then, nobody wore pants. There were no True Religions, Levis, or whatever jeans are out there now; you certainly don’t see Jesus wearing Levis—think about that. So that’s not the essence of what that text meant, and that’s not what it means if that makes sense. Part one is really important so that you can wrap your head around that.

All right, let’s check this out: verse 11. This is what the Apostle Paul says, and I’m really excited about this. We’re going to move around the Bible a little bit more today because I think it’s important for us to unpack at least my perspective on this. Paul says to the church at Rome in verse 11, «I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong.» I want you to catch what he says in verse 11; we’re going to spend some time here. He says, «I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to make you strong.» The key word I wanted to spend some time unpacking and exploring is this word «impart» or the phrase «impartation.» I think many of us have at least heard that word used, but perhaps many of us have never heard it explained. It’s one thing to hear it regularly; it’s another thing to understand it accurately. Now remember, the enemy takes advantage of the ignorant—did you hear what I just said? The enemy takes advantage of the ignorant. The Bible calls Satan one of the words the Bible uses to describe him as the prince of darkness. Darkness is a metaphor for evil; if something is evil, it’s dark. But it’s also a metaphor for ignorance. For those of you who may be watching this for the first time, this is Bible study; this is not a Sunday message. That’s why we have no bells and no whistles. We’ve got studios, and God blessed us with great people who can do technology, so I could do this in different ways and make it all fancy, but this is about meat. Wednesdays are about meat—this is meat only, and good meat makes its own gravy, so we’re going there. It’s going to feel dense, all right?

So, darkness is a metaphor for ignorance and evil, but it’s also a metaphor for ignorance. If someone is ignorant, we say they’re in the dark. Now watch this: ignorance doesn’t mean unintelligent; ignorance simply means uninformed. We know we live in an era where everybody’s got an opinion on everything. The question is not whether or not a person has a right to an opinion; the question is whether or not that opinion is right. So when people have something to say to you, they have a right to have an opinion, but you have a right to have an opinion about whether or not their opinion is right. Now watch this; an opinion—are y’all okay? Remember, all meat; we’re going fast. An opinion, family, whether or not it is right, is not dictated or determined by whether or not I agree. Rather, whether an opinion is right is dictated and determined by whether or not the opinion is informed. Is the opinion informed? You know, I talked about this in our podcast episodes of the Dear Dean podcast, where we did two episodes discussing criticism and how to handle it. One of the things we talked about was how to handle criticism coming from you and also from others. One thing I shared in the podcast on how to handle criticism from others—available on YouTube for those looking for it—was this: there are some people who don’t know enough about you to have an opinion of you. Put a mind-blowing emoji in the chat if that resonates with you. There are some people who don’t know enough…