Dharius Daniels - Wake Up The Watchmen

Well, I want to get to the word today. I, uh, want to start. There’s a new series I’m beginning called Air Force, and I want to read a portion of scripture found in the book of Matthew, chapter 26, starting at verse 36. It says this: Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, «Sit here while I go over there and pray.» He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, «My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.» Going a little further, he fell on his face to the ground and prayed, «My Father, if it’s possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.» Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. He said to them, «Couldn’t you keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation.»

I want to talk from this subject in our time together today: «Wake Up the Watchman.» I want to leap into this lesson by reminding some and informing others, listen to me, that there is no advancement without investment. The Apostle Paul puts forth this principle; culture calls it a «law of reciprocity,» and various religions use different words to describe this universal law. Paul calls it sowing and reaping: You get out what you put in. In other words, if we want to win in any area of life, we must understand that winning requires work. This is the way the Scriptures frame it. James says, even if you have faith—James says faith—he said even if you have faith, «faith without works is dead.» What does that mean? It means faith alone doesn’t work without action. As a matter of fact, James is saying that the way you know your faith is working is that you’re working. If you really believe something, that belief is going to produce a corresponding action called works. Come on now! So work is one of the ways I know my faith is working, and work is also one of the ways I exercise my faith.

So I just came to tell you, even in this introduction: If you’re believing for it, work on it! If you’re believing for the breakthrough, work on it! If you’re believing for the open door, work on it! If you’re believing for the contract, work on it! If you’re believing for the marriage, work on it! If you’re believing for healing, work on it! If you’re believing for wholeness, work on it! If you’re believing for freedom, work on it! If you’re believing for greatness, work on it! So whenever you get the «wyd» text, just respond, «I’m working!» They got it on this side. Let me say it one more time: When you get that text out of the blue late at night, «wyd, ” tell them, „I’m working!“ Working to go to the next level, working to be who God’s called me to be, working towards stepping into my new season and my next.

I’m working! Before Adam got Eve, God gave him work. What happened in the Garden of Eden didn’t produce work; it changed work. God says the stuff that would have come easier now comes by the sweat of your brow. So what does that mean, Dr. Darris? It means, then, that it is not just important to work; it’s also important to know how to work. Now, here’s a cultural colloquialism; here’s a phrase that we hear frequently: Hard work pays off. Maybe! Come on, let’s reframe and rephrase it: Right work! Did you hear what I just said? I said right work pays off because it’s possible to work hard and not work right.

Is there anybody in a season of your life where you are sick and tired of wasting time working on something that’s not working? If I’m going to work on this, I want it to work! So, Lord, show me how to work right, ‘cause I’d rather work right than spend all this time working hard and not producing any results. I can work strong and work wrong! So I want to spend the next few weeks not just encouraging you to work for what you’re believing for, but I want to spend the next few weeks instructing you on how to work for what you’re believing for because just because I’m working hard doesn’t mean I’m working right.

Are y’all ready for this? Are you sure you’re ready? Okay, here it is! This is something that culture misses, but people who are in the kingdom get. Working the right way requires working in two realms. I say culture; people who are just in culture, non-religious or carnal people, people who are religious but influenced more by culture than by kingdom principles—they won’t get this. They’ll work hard, but they’ll just work in one realm, working by the sweat of their brow, destroying their soul trying to reach their goals, saying things like, „I’ll sleep when I’m dead.“ Well, if you don’t sleep, you’re going to be dead quicker! Come on, come on! Making you think that if you’re going to build the empire, you’ve got to destroy your castle. The devil is a liar! My God is not this or that; He’s this and that. I can have everything He’s got for me! Y’all are not talking to me! You can have a great marriage and a great business! You can pray and get paid! You’re not talking!