Dharius Daniels - I'm About to Cook

I want to talk about this subject during our time together; this is your declaration for 2024. I’m about to cook, family. We just exited the holiday season, a time that is saturated with fellowship and interaction with friends and family. Some of that fellowship is about fun, but much of it also revolves around food. If many individuals were objective and honest, they would have to admit that they take food just as seriously, or in some cases more seriously, than the fellowship and fun. There are certain individuals with a specific type of eating personality that impacts how they engage with others when they step into an environment where food is served. They enter the space, exchange pleasantries with the people present, and make their way to the room where the food is displayed, engaging in an examination of the offerings. «Hmm, I see that. Okay, I see that. I’m going to indulge right there. What is that?» Often, an individual observes the dishes and may stop at a particular one that looks a bit ambiguous. They might step back and scan the room for someone they can trust, a safe person for what they’re about to ask, and say, «Come over here.» Then that person approaches, and they ask the quintessential question about certain dishes: «Who cooked this?»

Let me shift to this side here: «Who cooked this?» The answer to that question either eases your anxiety—“Okay, we’re good”—or heightens it—“I don’t know.» But this reality serves as a revelation for us spiritually. The truth is that both naturally and spiritually, the issue isn’t always whether or not the food is cooked; it’s how the food is cooked. How food is prepared often determines whether or not I am able and willing to eat it. If we don’t understand how to arrange cooking in a way that appeals to our spiritual appetite, we will spend our spiritual lives malnourished—not because we lack access to cooked food, but because the food isn’t prepared in a manner that makes it edible for us. This particular passage in John provides a powerful picture of what I’m preaching about. I love Bible stories and narratives; you often see me using them. The Bible says that those things written a long time ago were written for our learning, that we, through the patience of the Scriptures, might have hope. This means that God shows me what happened with people like Abraham and Sarah not just to recount their story, but to demonstrate what, in principle, can happen for me.

Yes, sir, are you here? He isn’t just showing me the story of Abraham and Sarah so I know their business; He shows me what happened to illustrate how He can handle my business. He says things like, «I am not a respecter of persons; I am a God of principles.» Are you hearing what I’m saying? For instance, Sarah and Abraham having a baby at an old age isn’t meant to suggest that everyone older should try to have a baby. The principle God wants us to extract from such passages is that Abraham and Sarah show us, watch me, that God can empower you to give birth to a thing in a season when others think you’ve missed your window.

So, if you have properly seized every season, be quiet. If you’ve never made a mistake that cost you time, be quiet. If you’ve never mismanaged an opportunity, be quiet. But if you feel like there have been some seasons where you mismanaged opportunities and squandered chances you wish you could have back, you need to know that we serve a God who can do it now. He’s sovereign, which means He has the last say; He holds ultimate rule and authority. Two things cannot be sovereign at the same time: either time is in charge, or God is. Both cannot claim dominion. I want to speak to those who feel it’s too late, that you’ve made too many mistakes or that you’re too old. Let me say it the way they say it at Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Kil Michel, Mississippi: the devil is a liar; He can do it now! In this season, He can do it now—after the mistakes, after the setbacks—He can do it now. That’s why these accounts are in the Bible; the Red Sea isn’t mentioned for us to go literally standing in front of ponds. It shows you that it doesn’t matter what stands between you and the place God promised to take you. It means God will engage in whatever activity He needs to in order to get you through it. If He has to make water do something it doesn’t typically do to get you through, He’ll make the water do it; He’ll make a supervisor do it; He’ll make a sponsor do it—He’ll make a hater do it! When God is ready, these stories are written, Paul says, for our learning. And so, stories…