Dharius Daniels - He Won't See It Coming

You know what? You hear this scripture said in church often: «He teaches my hands to walk.» I know the writer is speaking literally there, but there are also some metaphorical implications. When I’m praising, I’m not just screaming; I’m fighting because you go to the next level headfirst, and every time I praise Him, I’m winning the war in the ground of my mind. What an incredible gathering! I want to pray really quickly—it’s okay if I do that. I want to pray very specifically for something, though. I learned this from Dr. Peter Wagner, former director of church growth at Fuller Seminary. He talks about the importance of strategic prayer—not aimless praying, but smart bomb, sniper-like prayer, praying with precision. I’ve been praying over this event and my contribution. There is a term we use in the personal development and coaching space that I want to appropriate and pray for during our time together tonight. I want to pray for what’s called quantum leaps. It’s a term used in the realm of metaphysics to describe how one particle explosively moves from one place to the next in the blink of an eye. When it comes to personal growth and spiritual development, it describes an explosive and exponential leap in your growth where God allows you to skip steps. Well, the first shall be last, and the last shall be first—that’s a quantum leap. I know God does some things incrementally, but I want to tell you He does other things exponentially. He does it suddenly, He does it quickly, He does it explosively, and I want to pray for a quantum leap tonight. Father, I thank You that You’re a change specialist. You’re Jehovah Macadis; You’re the Lord who sanctifies. You change, and we pray tonight strategically, specifically, simply—we pray for quantum leaps. Father, I pray that we skip some steps and that You move us from where we are to where You’ve called and positioned us to be. I thank You for the part You’ve given me to play in this. I pray for the power and presence of the Holy Spirit—the anointing to remove burdens and destroy yokes. You’re the only one who can speak to all of us and say something different to each of us at the same time. So, I pray for Your word to find people where they are. May You speak to them with such specificity that they feel seen, loved, and known by You. Knowing You, like we know You, we already have what we’ve asked You for, so we thank You for these things in the incredible name of Jesus. If you agree, say amen. If you’ve got any praise left, come on, give it to Him in the house! Well, listen to me: can we very quickly, before you take your seats, pause for the cause of celebrating God’s gift to us? Can we pause to celebrate, first of all, His genius and the uncommon IQ God’s given Him? Can we celebrate His genuineness? Because every time He stands on this platform, He doesn’t just bring His gifts; He brings His heart with Him. We feel it. Can we celebrate His generosity? He gives of himself, His relationships, and His influence. Can you help me thank God for a general in the kingdom, the inimitable Bishop T.D. Jakes? We celebrate you, Bishop. We love you here; we appreciate you and value your contribution. You’ve made numerous contributions to all of us, but the most consequential ones you’ve made to my life have been your challenges. I’ve learned to take your challenges as a compliment because a leader doesn’t challenge anyone they don’t see something in. We celebrate you, and can we double crank it up and make major noise for the forever First Lady, the effervescent, the virtuous? She’s a vibe all by herself! Come on, make some noise for First Lady Serena Jakes. We love you; we’re so grateful for your thoughtfulness, your kindness. I love your vibe. I love listening to Bishop preach, and I love watching you and Cora watch Bishop preach. So we celebrate you and love you so much. I also want to thank a young lady I met when I was 19 or 20 years old in college in Mississippi. We’ve been together for 22 years; we’ve been married for 21 years—my wife and the mother of my children, Shamika Daniels. Love you; so grateful to God for you. All right, you can be seated. You can be seated. Listen, I’m really excited about the word tonight, and I want to jump right into it. But just a couple of things I feel like I want to lift up really quickly that may add some value to you. You know, the prophet Hosea says this: «My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.» Whatever area I’m uninformed in is the area I suffer in. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but if you’re serving in the spiritual space, we’re dealing with an epidemic of biblical illiteracy. I’m not quite sure if you’ve come across some data that speaks to people’s interest in the Bible and how people see the Bible, but we’re not living in the age and era that many of us grew up in. When people are not anchored in truth, they can be tossed to and fro by all types of different ideologies. This means those of us who are serving this present age are the ones who will have to deal with different kinds of challenges and questions nowadays. We have…