Dharius Daniels - Whatever It Takes

We’re in week three of this series called Faith University, and I want to get right to work. There’s a scripture I want to read in the Gospel of Mark, chapter two, beginning with verse one. If you’re ready, put «yes» in the chat—just «yes, » with some exclamation marks! High impact follows, high energy! Alright, so watch this. Mark chapter two, verse one says, «A few days later, when Jesus entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.» Some men came bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and lowered the mat that the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, «Son, your sins are forgiven.»

I want to pause for the cause; I want to tag a title for this text and our time together today. I want to talk from the subject, «Whatever It Takes.» Clap your hands if you’re excited about the word! Amen!

Well, listen, I want to begin our time together today by informing some and reminding others that our God is a God of principles. Our God is a God of principles. Principles, family, are rules of operation; they are sets of best practices that produce, promote, and ensure—listen to me—the protection and potential of a thing. I’ll say it again: principles are rules of operation; they are sets of best practices that ensure the protection and potential of a thing. They are the equivalent of tags filled with instructions that come on garments that you purchase—instructions that say things like «only wash in cold water» or «don’t wash in warm water.» Those are principles; those are sets of best practices intended to ensure the protection of and the potential of a thing. It’s like the creator of that thing is saying, «In order for you to protect this and in order for you to get the most out of this, these are the sets of practices you need to follow.»

And ladies and gentlemen, just as it is for assets, so it is for individuals. Our Creator knows what’s in our best interests, and so he offers a set of practices. He gives us principles to ensure, number one, our protection. He says there are some things that want to get to you that can’t get to you if you follow the instructions I gave you. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah, yeah, yeah! And not only do they ensure our protection—thank God for that—they also ensure our potential. It means that, watch this, if I follow the instructions that the manufacturer and the creator gave me with this garment, the garment lasts longer. Did you hear what I just said? See, if some things wear down prematurely, they wither easily because the instructions that are intended to produce the potential of a thing fall out. And this is why one of the areas of attention for the adversary is to make sure God’s people are unaware of the tag that’s in the back of their garment. Did you hear what I just said? Yeah, yeah! The enemy knows, «Hey, I don’t have to destroy you if I can keep you uninformed regarding the principles God’s given to protect you.» God is a God of principles.

So watch this: faith in the Creator then means more than just believing in God’s person; it also means I’ve got to believe in his principles. And there’s a principle that I see postured in the pages of this passage here in Mark that I believe we must explore and embrace if we’re serious about possessing God’s promises. It’s a principle that I call the principle of partnership. It’s in the text—the principle of partnership—here it is: you can’t get what’s best for yourself by yourself; you can’t possess everything that’s for you with only you. Even though we live in a culture of independence, in the kingdom, we’ve been created to operate with interdependence. Yeah, yeah, yeah! The Apostle Paul spends an entire chapter in the book of Corinthians trying to communicate this to people who have been swept up in the social norm and the cultural trend that says, «I can just do it by myself, and I don’t need anybody else, and as long as I’ve got Jesus, I don’t need you, » not realizing that sometimes Jesus works through them. He says, «If somebody says, watch this, the eye, they can’t say they have no need of the hand; and if somebody says to the other hand, they can’t say they have no need of the feet.» We’ve been created and crafted to operate with interdependence because the power of all of us is greater than the power of any one of us.

The enemy understands this; this is why he is always after unity. He attacks unity with a unique kind of aggression. The psalmist puts it this way in Psalms 133: «Oh, how good and pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil that ran from Aaron’s beard down to the skirts of his garment.» The beard represents the head of the priest, which is Jesus; the garments cover the body, which represents the body of Christ…