Dharius Daniels - This Is Not For Me

I want to talk about this subject during our time together as a family: «This is not for me.» Somebody says, «It’s not for me,» uh, family. I feel safe in saying that if you have spent any significant time in the context of a Christian community, then you, sir or ma’am, are bilingual. You speak at least two languages. For those of you who may be wondering, pondering, «Pastor, what do you mean? I only speak English,» not if you’ve spent any significant time in a Christian community, because if you have, you not only speak English, right? You also speak a language called Christianese. There are some sayings, some phrases, some statements, some responses, and some reactions that only make sense if you’ve been in a Christian community. One of these statements that is frequently uttered by those who speak Christianese is a statement given in response to the question, «How are you doing?» When we receive that request, those of us who speak Christianese from time to time respond by saying, «I’m blessed and highly favored.» Now, to people who don’t have a revelation about this declaration, it sounds like some Christian colloquialism; it sounds like some religious rhetoric. But for those of us who have a revelation of what this means, we are simply expressing the fact that we know we are benefactors and beneficiaries of the unearned grace of God. Come on, am I making sense? This statement is not a statement of arrogance; it’s a statement of awareness. It is us reminding ourselves that favor is on me. Did you hear what I just said? This is a confidence that I think is rooted in the reality of Scripture because all throughout Scripture, no matter the Old Testament or the New Testament, regardless of whether they are male or female, regardless of socioeconomic status, regardless of the age and era they lived in, you’ll see this common thread interwoven throughout the fabric of all of Scripture when it comes to God’s people, and they lived with, were blessed with, and prospered because of something called favor. Yeah, we can’t even open the first book of the Bible, the book of beginnings, a book called Genesis, without being exposed to this. We see it in Genesis 6:8. The Bible says that Noah, that man who had prophetic insight to build an ark—the man who believed it was going to rain before there was a cloud in the sky, the man who took a prophetic word and did more than pray; he prepared—yeah, did you hear what I just said? Because your preparation is an indication of whether or not you believe God is getting ready to blow you up. It’s one thing for you to say, «God’s getting ready to bless me,» but your preparation is an indication that you believe he’s getting ready to make it rain. Because if you believe he’s getting ready to make it rain, you build the ark. And people may call you weird; people may call you arrogant; people may call you presumptive, but when it starts raining, they’re going to call you blessed. I don’t know who this is for, but don’t worry about what they are calling you now; when God gets through, they’re going to have to change what they label you. This man, Genesis 6:8, says, «But Noah found favor.» Come on, this 12:30, he found what? He found favor in the eyes of God. Well, Pastor, you can’t make a general statement for all people based on something that happened with one person; that’s exegetically irresponsible. How dare you take something that happened with Noah and say it can happen with all of us? I’m not done because if I move throughout the Old Testament, I run into one of the most overlooked, underestimated, and underrated sisters in all of Scripture. Her name was Esther. An entire book of the Bible is dedicated to her ministry and how God used her to preserve and save Israel from annihilation. People don’t want to give her credit; people don’t want to give her her just due; people don’t want to give her her shine. But Esther is singlehandedly responsible for overriding and overturning a plot and plan by H to annihilate the Jews. She was a smart sister; she was a strong sister; she was a savvy sister. I don’t know if y’all can handle this; she was a fine sister too, because the text says, «Now the King was attracted to Esther.» Y’all are not ready! See, away with this idea that you have to be unattractive to be anointed. I need a sister to find another sister to say, «I’m fine and I have favor.» How about that? I got both of them; God blessed me with both of them. «Pastor, that’s vanity!» No, it’s value! That’s the problem; you don’t value yourself, and so whenever you run into anybody else that values themselves, you call them vain when you really are insecure. Now, the King was more attracted to Esther than any of the other women, and she won his favor. J Noah’s not the only one; Esther’s not the only one. There was an individual in the Old Testament who was a kingmaker. See, everybody’s trying to be a king, but God’s called some of you to be a kingmaker. Come on here; those are people who are secure in themselves. Come on, they are content in their own calling, and they feel assigned to push other people forward. Y’all not talking to me! Yeah, they don’t think less of themselves because they’re less popular; they don’t think less of themselves because they’re less prominent. They know that they have a king-making anointing on them and that kings don’t operate in their kingship without them, and everybody doesn’t have to know what I do or who I am.