Dharius Daniels - 2 Things the Men in Your Life are Fighting

It is a tension that men are managing because they hear, «Be yourself,» then are punished when they do. I’m not talking about dysfunction, self-sabotaging behavior, or sinful behavior; I’m talking about the authenticity of a person’s personality not being accepted. What can happen is that some people assume that if I’m not being disrespectful, it means I’m being respectful. It’s almost like saying if I’m not being mean, I’m being nice. See, I understand your questions now: rejection is the refusal to accept. Just because I’m tolerating doesn’t mean I’ve accepted. I don’t even have time to deal with this—yes, I do! Even Jesus refused to linger in environments where he was merely tolerated. In Mark chapter 6, he said, «A prophet is not without honor except in his own home,» and he did not perform many mighty miracles there except to lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. Rejection locks up the miracle in a man for you. They rejected Jesus, saying, «Is this not the carpenter’s son?» They had no idea what was in him; he didn’t look like what was in him. Rejection, alright, okay, alright—I’m just testing the waters. Hopefully this gives some insight into some confusion. This is when you’re seeing a version of him that seems more alive and jovial when he’s with male counterparts, and you may wonder why you don’t get that version of him. It’s because they accept that version of me. Somebody say «rejection.»

See, I’ve got to move on, but support rejection produces wounds, and those wounds lead to ways. Some of the ways are tied to wounds, and some wounds are tied to rejection. So you can’t fix the ways until you address the wounds. The reason Jesus was able to faithfully and fruitfully carry out his ministry is that the Father proactively gave him what he needed before he began public ministry. This ensured that the rejection from men did not ruin his soul in a way that would pervert his purpose, because the Father had already affirmed him before men started to reject him. When he was baptized in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove, and a voice from Heaven said, «This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,» before he performed one miracle, opened one blind eye, or raised Lazarus from the dead. The Father declared, «I’m pleased with you, and my pleasure is not tied to your performance.» So he’s not living his life for affirmation; he’s living his life out of affirmation.

Do you know that the quality of your life is based on the quality of your decisions, and the quality of your decisions is based on the quality of information that you have? This means you need reliable sources of information, and the most reliable source of information in the world is the Bible. But you know what most people don’t understand? If you want to understand the Bible, God is enough, but Sunday is not. I want to help you understand; I want to help you interpret and apply the Bible better. This is why I’m inviting you to be a part of my Tribe Called Bible. Some men are dealing with rejection and have never heard their father say, «I’m well pleased.» Have you ever asked a man in your life, «Did your daddy ever tell you he was proud?» Did you hear what I just said? They’re dealing with rejection; they don’t understand. We’re not asking for a cookie; we’re not asking for a party—just understanding.

Can I give you number two? I only have a few minutes left. Alright, here it is: number two is this. Y’all sure? Yeah, I’m going to have to spin the block on this, and maybe next year or the year after, I’ll talk about some of the ways, because some of you are dealing with ways in men that you don’t understand. Some of those ways—oh, God! Can I just share one thing real quick? Hear this, hear this, hear this: rejection doesn’t always show up just in wounds; the wounds produce ways, and one of the ways rejection manifests in men is it makes some men risk-averse. A risk-averse man is an indecisive one. I don’t have time! It’s a man who won’t make a decision.