Dharius Daniels - I Want My Lick Back

The topic of today’s teaching is «I Want My Lick Back.» All right, yeah, I want my lick back. Family, I want to start this sermon with the following statement: some of your greatest problems will not float into your life in spirit form; they will walk into your life on two legs. In other words, some of our greatest problems will be people problems, and the Bible is inundated with examples that support this statement. When we open the Bible in the Book of Genesis, we can’t even get through three chapters without encountering a people problem: Adam and Eve—people problem; then Cain and Abel—people problem; Abraham and Lot—people problem; Jacob and Esau—people problem; Joseph and his brothers—people problem; David and Goliath—people problem; Saul and David—people problem; Absalom and David—people problem; Amnon and David—people problem; Ahithophel and David—people problem; Joab and David—pray for David right now—Joab and David—people problem; Elijah and Jezebel—people problem; Jezebel and Ahab—people problem; Samson and Delilah—people problem; and Judas and Jesus—people problem. Life is just life-ing, and people will be people. Since this is an inevitable and unavoidable reality, we need biblical principles to properly manage unavoidable people problems. This is why the book of Nahum becomes incredibly important for those of us who are serious about managing people problems in a way that makes us better and not bitter. Nahum is more than a book in the Bible; it is a blueprint on how to handle yourself when you are dealing with problems that manifest in the form of people. I taught you this last week, family, did I not? I said, did I not? I taught you last week that Nahum is a super unique book in the Bible because, even though it is a prophetic book, it delivers a prophetic word not to God’s people but to the people who were causing God’s people problems. It wasn’t a prophetic word to Israel; it was a prophetic word to the Assyrians, the same people God gave a prophetic word to a hundred years prior through another prophet in the Bible named Jonah. Remember Jonah, swallowed by the whale? Jonah didn’t like them; Jonah didn’t want to go over there. Then, after being in the belly of the whale for three days, he changed his mind. This is the same people group he was prophesying to, and they had temporary adjustments but not a long-term evolution. A hundred years later, they were still doing the same things to God’s people. So God says, at this point, I’ve given you time to change; I’ve given you opportunities to change; I’ve sent prophetic messengers to you to try to help you change, but you refuse to change. So now, I have to tell you what I’m getting ready to do since you won’t change. Are you catching this? This prophetic book models for us how to manage people problems God’s way. It’s a blueprint for people problem management. Where is it? It’s in the text we just read in Nahum 2:13. What does it say? God says through Nahum to Assyria, «I’m against you.» Everybody thank God for that; He said, «I’m against you. I will burn up your chariots in smoke.» Some of you are saying, «I like that part already; that’s the kind of energy I’m on.» No, metaphorically, guys, okay? «I will burn up your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will leave you no prey on Earth. The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.» Pastor, how is this teaching us how to manage people problems? Don’t look at the specifics—let’s not set anything on fire, okay? Let’s not look at it literally. Instead, let’s look at it metaphorically. How does this help me manage people problems? This is God managing a people problem. How does this help me manage my people problems? I want you to see that this prophetic declaration regarding what He was going to do to Assyria is a prophetic announcement of the protection He is providing for Israel. Don’t miss it! God’s prophetic decree is divine intervention showing up in the form of God setting a boundary. When God says He’s going to destroy Assyria, He’s not destroying Assyria simply to destroy Assyria; He’s destroying Assyria to protect Israel. He is operating with the recognition and the revelation that Assyria won’t change, so He has to protect His people from those who are unwilling to change—those who have had ample opportunity to change yet have refused to change. So what is God doing? God is restricting access. He is doing in Nahum what He actually did in Genesis. When Adam and Eve, His first creation, had access to the Garden of Eden, they mismanaged that access, and you mismanage access when you see access as a right and not a privilege. Let me go to this side—did you hear what I just said? Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, and God is saying, «First of all, this is My garden. I made it before I made you. So if you’re going to be in this garden, you have to be in this garden in a way that aligns with My instruction. You can freely eat from every tree in this garden, but not that one.» Am I making sense? But they treated access like it was a right instead of a privilege; they treated Eden like they made it, and that’s some of our issue. You’ve got people in your garden that you made, but they are acting like they…