Dharius Daniels - Why Your Spiritual Connection Doesn't Feel Real

What Saul—oh my! —what Saul can represent is dominant Christian culture. What Saul can represent is a denomination. Yes, what? Gosh, I see you. What Saul can represent is people in your family. What Saul can represent is people in your church who have been doing it one way, and they assume that because it works for them, it works for everybody. Now they try to impose that methodology on you. We talk about how we need to be delivered from vices and how we need to be delivered from issues. I came to tell you sometimes you’ve got to be delivered from religious traditions. Are we here? Yes, we are. Many of us are not experiencing spiritual optimization because we’re practicing our spirituality in a way that doesn’t align with our spiritual temperament. Pastor, what’s the spiritual temperament? It refers to an individual’s inherent disposition or inclination towards particular approaches, practices, or expressions of spirituality that resonate with their unique personality preferences and ways of connecting with God. What are you saying? I’m saying within the Bible—somebody say within the Bible—okay, so we’re not going outside the framework of the Bible. Okay, that’s a flag on the play. I’m out of bounds, all right? I’m not going outside the framework of the Bible, but within the framework of the Bible, there are diverse methods and diverse paths that align better with certain people’s individual spiritual temperaments. This allows them to deepen their spiritual connection in a way that feels authentic. See, this is why some people say, «Uh, this religion is fake.» No, it’s not. It’s not inauthentic; the way you’re practicing it isn’t authentic to you. Y’all aren’t talking to me. It’s because you’re 26 trying to pray like somebody who’s 66. That’s why it doesn’t feel authentic to you. It doesn’t feel authentic because you live in 2024 in America, but you’re speaking language from 1611, King James in England. Y’all aren’t talking to me. That’s why it doesn’t feel authentic. Forcing a person to ignore their spiritual temperament is the equivalent of forcing them to wear Saul’s armor. So we do not go outside the Bible to find a way to deepen our connection with God, but there are multiple ways within the Bible—not because everybody is supposed to do everything, but there are multiple paths to deepen our connection with God because there’s something for everybody. I’m going to say it again: we don’t go outside the Bible to find ways to deepen our connection. We don’t go outside the Bible to find ways to upgrade our spirituality, right? Sir? Right? Okay. Right? Or, at minimum, the Bible becomes the filter through which you put practices that you’re going to incorporate. Right? Some people might be «sola scriptura,» which is by scripture alone; or some are «sola scriptor,» which is by scripture alone. That scripture becomes the Supreme Court to which I take all other religious ideas, and if it aligns with the reality of scripture, then I utilize it. But if it doesn’t, then scripture overrules culture. Got it? Makes sense? All right. But within the Bible, you have all of these different paths to deepen a connection—not because everybody’s supposed to do everything, but these different ways are in here because—uh-oh—I’m trying not to—I got in trouble the last sermon. Not everybody is supposed to do everything, but there’s something for everybody. And what, what Saul—oh my, my! —what Saul can represent is dominant Christian culture. What Saul can represent is a denomination. Yes? What’s—gosh, I see you. What Saul can represent is people in your family. What Saul can represent is people in your church who have been doing it one way, and they assume that because it works for them, it works for everybody. Now they try to impose that methodology on you, and because you’ve seen it work for them, you assume something’s wrong with you. Did you hear what I just said? And I pray that a spirit of freedom breaks out across every location, including Change Global, where you shake free from the shackles of trying to do this thing in a way that’s not consistent with the way God wired you. Let me be me! I don’t need your armor; I don’t need your sword. But if you give me my five smooth stones, if you let me fight this thing my way, I’ll knock that giant down. Listen, when you get better spiritually, everything gets better. Spiritual life is not the only important part of your life; it is the most important part of your life because it affects every other part that’s important. But you don’t get stronger spiritually accidentally; it takes intentionality. You need to get fed, and you’ve got to learn how to understand, how to interpret, how to apply, and how to explain the Bible. The Bible’s the blueprint to your best life. And I’m going to tell you, Sunday is not enough to give you the tools that you need to get better with the Bible. I want you to join me in my community called BibleU, where I help you take your understanding, your application, and your explanation of the Bible to another level. So what happens is certain people, certain tribes, certain denominations, certain sects assume that certain spiritual temperaments are the equivalent of spiritual maturity. So if you don’t have the same temperament as me, then you’re not as mature as I am. So there’s this imposition of armor, and it happens in a number of areas. Here are a few that I see where it happens a lot. Are y’all okay? We’re tilling hard ground this morning, right? But that’s why you come to a church like this, right? Okay, here it is, here it is. I see it happening.