Dharius Daniels - Throw Them Hands

Well, listen, I’m going to leap right into this lesson now. All year, I have been speaking and preaching only from the Gospels, and I’m committed to that. But for this message today, I’m going to take some pastoral privilege and deviate for one Sunday because there is a scripture that I think succinctly supports what I want to share with you today. It is found in a book of the Bible called Psalms, a compilation of hymns, poems, and journal entries. I want to read two verses found in Psalms 18, verses 33-34. I’m reading from the New International Version. Family, this is what it says: «He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.» The King James Version states, «He teaches my hands to war.» I want to use this scripture as a launching pad to leap into this lesson today. I want to talk from this subject. It’s bad English, but it’s good theology. Here’s my topic: throw them hands, throw, throw them hands.

Family, there’s an axiom that many, if not most, of us have heard as we have meandered through the maze of life. It’s the axiom that says—watch this—your attitude determines your altitude. I’m not clear on the intention of the person who originated that axiom; I don’t know what they meant when they wrote it. I know what I interpret when I read it, and that is this: how far I go, how high I go, is not just dictated and determined—listen to me—by who I am; it’s also equally impacted by how I am. Did you hear what I just said? How far I go and how high I go is not just determined by who I am, but it is equally impacted by how I am. My attitude affects my altitude. Let me put it this way: my disposition determines whether or not I’ll reach my destiny. Darius, where did you get this from? Well, I was reading the scriptures, and I see the scriptures filled with all types of animal-like metaphors used to describe the nature and character of the model man, a man named Jesus. But there are two dominant metaphors that we cannot overlook. The first of which is a lamb, which speaks to the part of Jesus’s personality that is docile, meek, and lowly of heart. I believe it’s important to be lamb-like; we need to learn from the lamb and live like the lamb. However, some people only see the lamb in you, and they don’t know there’s another side to you. That is the other metaphor we see used to describe Jesus, and that’s not just the lamb; that’s the lion. Revelation says he’s the lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of Jesse, who has prevailed. Anyone who’s going to experience God’s best and walk in the fullness of God’s intention for their life has to be a person who has learned to manage these two tensions and these two personalities that should exist in everybody who is pursuing purpose: the lamb and the lion.

You’ve got to know when to be lamb-like—docile and reserved—and then you’ve got to know when to be a lion: when to be assertive and intentional. You see, the lamb went to the cross, but the lion came out of the grave. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah! And there are some seasons and situations that feel like tombs, where you feel like you’re buried beneath dirt, pressure, and obstacles, and the only people that come out of the tomb are those who’ve developed the disposition of a lion. Hallelujah! People who say, «If you hit me, I know when to hit back.» Yeah, you can throw opposition my way, but God has taught my hands how to war, and this disposition is incredibly important for anyone who’s going to experience God’s best. I know we’ve got discipline; I know we’ve got determination, but how is our disposition? Because it’s the attitude that determines altitude, and maybe this area is the missing ingredient in your advancement. Maybe this is the area you are unaware of that God’s trying to develop you and me in because he recognizes it’s the x-factor.

He says, «Yes, you’ve got the gifts; yes, you’ve got the talent; yes, you’ve got the exposure; yes, you’ve got the pedigree,» but God says, «Maybe I’ve sent you through seasons of adversity to adjust your attitude.» Good God almighty! Yeah! He says because almost all of us deal with one of two extremes: we’re either too much lamb or too much lion. Some of us need to be adjusted a little bit one way, and others need to be adjusted another. Who am I teaching on this Sunday morning? He said some of you, I’m teaching you how to be a lion because all of my promises are occupied with opposition, and your willingness and ability to overthrow the opposition determines whether or not you possess the promise. I’m going to say that one more time: I said all the promises of God are preoccupied with opposition, and your willingness to overthrow the opposition determines whether or not we will possess the promise. This is what the battle imagery in the Old Testament is all аbout: Israel having to overthrow the Canaanites is a powerful picture of us having to overthrow the opposition that’s inhibiting us from possessing what God promised. Yes, indeed! We don’t get peace without overthrowing some opposition; we don’t get joy unspeakable without overthrowing some opposition; we don’t get the vision God’s given us without facing obstacles head-on.